The majority of head coaches in both the NCAA and USports women's hockey leagues are still men.
The majority of head coaches in both the NCAA and USports women's hockey leagues are still men.
The number of women coaching women's hockey is increasing, but the majority of NCAA and USports women's hockey coaches are still men.
In the NCAA, that number is 53.5% of head coaches are men, while in USports that number climbs to 54.3%. In both leagues however, the percentage of women serving as assistant coaches outnumbers men.
At the NCAA level, women account for 68.3% of assistant coaches. In USports that margin is much closer, with 51.1% of coaches being women.
The NCAA has 11 of 43 programs with all-women coaching staffs including Boston College, Boston University, Holy Cross, LIU, Lindenwood, Princeton, Stonehill, Syracuse, Maine, Minnesota-Duluth, and New Hampshire. Only two programs in the NCAA, Robert Morris and Mercyhurst, had all-men coaching staffs listed on their team websites.
In USports, there were no all-women coaching staffs and a similar two programs, Saint Mary's and Dalhousie, with all-men coaching staffs. Dalhousie's head coach is Troy Ryan, head coach for Canada's senior national team.
Many researches have found "disproportionately few women in high-level coaching positions."
When USports selected their team this year for the FISU Winter World University Games, they also tapped a man, Greg Bowles, to coach the women's team. Bowles is an assistant coach with the University of Ottawa, while his assistants included Guelph head coach Kelly Patton and University of New Brunswick head coach Sarah Hilworth. USA's coach was Brendon Knight, an assistant coach at Division III Utica College, while his assistants were Hamilton College head coach Emily McNamara and Northeastern Director of Hockey Operations Melissa Piacentini.
The gender inequity presents itself on the men's side as well, where no women serve as head coaches in NCAA or USports hockey. Only recently did Kori Cheverie break USports' gender barrier becoming the first full-time coach for a men's team serving as an assistant for Toronto Metropolitan University.
On the women's side, current college and university head coaches feature Olympians and World Champions including Julie Chu, Vicky Sunohara, Carla MacLeod, and Tara Watchorn.
While the coaching balance is approaching 50%, there is still more work to be done. There is no shortage of experienced and talented women in coaching, only a shortage of programs willing to hire these women.