Katie Sowers

Katie Sowers was the second woman to hold a full-time NFL coaching position, and the first openly gay coach in the NFL. Coach Sowers is in her second season as assistant coach with the Ottawa University women’s flag football program and has recently been named Ottawa’s director of athletic strategic initiatives. She is the Offensive and Defensive Scheme Advisor for the Braves, coaching them to a national championship. She is also starting her first year with the Kansas City Chiefs under the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship.

Sowers spent six seasons in the NFL and four as an offensive assistant with the 49ers, working primarily with the Wide Receivers. Sowers started her NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons after spending five years as the athletic director of the City of Kansas City. Sowers has competed at the highest level of women’s tackle football, playing in the WFA (women’s football alliance) for eight years and being selected as a member of the United States Women’s National Football Team in 2013. Sowers has a master’s degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in pedagogy from the University of Central Missouri.

Sowers is listed as one of the "100 Most Influential Women in Sport" by Sport360 and won the 2019 Rising Star Award from The Sports Power Brunch: Celebrating the Most Powerful Women in Sports. She was Outsports’ 2017 "Female Hero of the Year" and named the to the Bleacher Report "Power 50." In addition, Sowers has been featured in several publications and magazines, such as ESPN, USA Today, NFL.com, Forbes, and Outsports.