Natalie Randolph has carved herself a place in history. She becomes one of the only women or even the only woman to be named head coach of a varsity football team. Randolph is coaching the Calvin Coolidge Senior High School Colts in Washington, DC. She has overwhelming support from the staff, the students and even the Mayor of DC, Mayor Adrian Fenty.
Randolph, an environmental science teacher, was selected over 14 other candidates for the head-coaching job. She has been overcoming milestones in the predominantly male world of football ever since she started her coaching career to get to where she is now. One is incident from a couple years ago as wide receivers coach at H.D. Woodson High School. The traditional hand shaking after the game was difficult. “I hate shaking hands,” she said, “because they walk right past me and don’t realize I’m a coach.”
Randolph lost her first game as head coach to Carroll High 28-0. However, to Randolph that is just the beginning she said, “We got all the kinks out and we know what we have to do for next week… We’re young. We’ve got to stick to the fundamentals. We’re going to work, we’re going to look at the tape, find out what we missed, what we have to do, and we’re going to do it.”
Last season the team was 6-4. Defeat will not stop her in the pursuit of perfection. “My expectations are to do the best that we possibly can,” she said. Randolph thinks of it as just a game, but puts a lot of emphasis on the kids. She gets a lot of respect from other coaches and players.