Titans boast two of 15 full-time women coaches in NFL

The NFL leads all male professional sports organizations with 15 full-time female coaches in the league and the Titans employ two of them.

The push for women in sports has been ongoing for decades. The numbers are increasing, but at a slower pace in male professional sports leagues.

Football is one of those leagues, and in 2024 there will be 15 full-time female coaches in the NFL. This is more than any other male professional sports league, and the Tennessee Titans employ two of them.

https://twitter.com/titans/status/1829615212338835484

Lori Locust is in her sixth year in the NFL, her second with the Titans. Before landing in Tennessee, she spent four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the assistant defensive line coach.

From her bio:

In her first year with the Titans, Locust worked with the outside linebackers and helped Denico Autry lead the team with a career-high 11.5 sacks and a career-best 58 quarterback pressures. Autry’s 11.5 sacks tied for 12th in the NFL and tied for the 10th-best number for the franchise since individual sacks became an official statistic in 1982. Also, Harold Landry III returned from a season-ending knee injury during the previous season to appear in all 17 games and tally 10.5 sacks—his second-best career total.

Haley Roberts is also in her second year with the Titans, joining the team in 2023 as a sports performance intern. She was promoted to sports performance assistant by the end of her first training camp. Before joining the Titans, Roberts held similar roles at the college level.

The knowledge and perspective women bring to football strongly complement what this male-dominated sport already has in place. NFL organizations are learning this and finding ways to bring more women into the organizations.

The Titans and Chicago Bears both employ two full-time coaches, while the Baltimore Ravens lead the way with three.

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Titans promote intern Haley Roberts to full-time position on staff

Haley Roberts becomes the second full-time female coach in Titans history.

The Tennessee Titans recently elevated strength and conditioning intern Haley Roberts to a full-time position on the strength staff.

Head coach Mike Vrabel announced the news during the week, although it isn’t clear exactly what position she will take. Roberts becomes the second female coach to earn a full-time position on Vrabel’s staff.

Earlier this offseason, the team hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust as defensive quality control coach, making her the first full-time female coach in franchise history.

Prior to joining the Titans, Roberts was the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Sam Houston State, where she worked with the program’s softball, women’s basketball, soccer, tennis, and bowling teams.

Roberts also spent time as a strength and conditioning graduate assistant at the University of North Alabama, the lead strength and conditioning intern at UNLV, and she was a virtual intern with the Clemson basketball team.

Vrabel has rightly been lauded for giving his coaches great opportunities to advance, with the most recent example coming with defensive line and assistant head coach Terrell Williams, who will serve as the team’s acting head coach for the preseason Week 1 game against the Chicago Bears.

The Titans will take the field for that game on Saturday at noon CT.

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