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

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.

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.