Katie Sowers is making history at Super Bowl 54 as first female assistant on an NFL coaching staff to work in a Super Bowl.
Sowers is an offensive assistant under coach Kyle Shanahan. And while the 33-year-old has gotten more attention as the subject of a national Microsoft Surface commercial airing during the current NFL playoffs, she has helped San Francisco's offense become one of the most dynamic and hardest to defend.
Here are some other facts you should know about one of the trailblazing faces of the NFL's female coaching movement.
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Katie Sowers is one of several women breaking down barriers in the NFL
Sowers wasn't the NFL's first full-time female assistant, but thanks to determined women like her, there will be many more.
Fewer than five years ago in the summer of 2015, Jennifer Welter broke the gender barrier after being hired by the Cardinals as an assistant coach for training camp and the preseason. In 2016, Kathryn Smith became the first woman hired to a full-time coaching position in the NFL, serving as the Bills' special teams quality control coach.
A year later in 2017, Sowers became a full-time offensive assistant for the 49ers. The Bills hired Phoebe Schecter as assistant tight end coach and the Raiders brought in Kelsey Martinez as assistant strength and conditioning coach. In 2019, the Buccaneers were the first team to have two women on their coaching staff, assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar.
Although Sowers, Locus and Javadifar are the ones who held their current positions this past season, the coaching internship opportunities for women have expanded throughout the league. Six other teams — Falcons, Jets, Steelers, Ravens, Panthers and Redskins — have hired women to their staff.
Katie Sowers started playing football well at an early age
Sowers was born and raised in Hesston, Kansas, just outside of Kansas City, starting to play the game as an 8-year-old. She eventually landed at the University of Central Missouri, from which she graduated with a master's degree in Kinesiology (the mechanical study of body movement) in 2012.
Before then, when Sowers attended Goshen College in Indiana in the 2000s, she played football for two teams in the Women's Football Alliance, the West Michigan Mayhem and her hometown team, the Kansas City Titans. She got picked to play on the United States Women's national American football team in 2013, which won the IFAF world championship that July, defeating Canada 64-0 in Finland.
She played with her twin sister Liz on the Mayhem in 2009, leading the team with four interceptions, including a return TD, and finishing fourth with 30 tackles. In 2013, Katie Sowers again played with Liz on the Titans. Liz was the team's leading wide receiver (44 catches, 756 yards, 13 TDs); Katie was second (19 catches, 314 yards, 7 TDs). Katie also was the team's second-leading rusher (25 carries, 424 yards, 2 TDs) for a 6-2 playoff team, leading in sacks (2.5) and interceptions as well.
Liz and Katie Sowers are two of the greatest players in the fledgling league's ongoing history. Katie took over as the Titans' most prolific passer for two seasons before unforunately retiring after the 2016 season because of a hip injury. Fortunately, she could pursue her football goals in the NFL instead.
You can watch highlights of Katie in action here on Hudl. Check out a sample of her impressive downfield passing skills below:
Katie Sowers started her NFL career in Atlanta
Sowers was on a team that got to the Super Bowl before when she was just getting started with her NFL career. Sowers joined the Falcons on the recommendation of then- Chiefs GM and future Falcons GM Scott Pioli. She crossed paths with Pioli in Kansas City while coaching his daughter in basketball.
She was with the Falcons for the offseason and training camp in 2016, working with Julio Jones and the team's wide receivers under position coach Raheem Morris. Sowers then turned to the personnel evaluation side, serving as a scouting intern.
After that latter nine-month stint was finished, Sowers joined the 49ers in June 2017 thanks to the team's Bill Walsh Minority Fellowship program, named after the franchise's late great Super Bowl-winning offensive guru. That was Shanahan's rookie season as head coach.
Katie Sowers is the only openly LGBT coach in the NFL
Sowers came out as lesbian before her first full season with the 49ers in 2017. She is literally a trailblazer, creating her own path in what can be an unprecedented and promising career. Should Sowers get to Miami and Super Bowl 54 with San Francisco, she's bound to inspire a lot more men and women across the world watching the game, all of them rooting for her continued success.
