Women working behind the scenes for the University of St. Thomas football program spoke with WCCO-TV about their roles in supporting the team’s success. The report featured Ellen Parkey, Caitlin Warren and Kelsey Whaley, highlighting their contributions to strength and conditioning, football operations and communications, as well as head coach Glenn Caruso’s commitment to creating opportunities for women in college football.
From the story:
There’s also Kelsey Whaley, the assistant athletic director for communications and media and several other women on staff from nutrition to athletic trainers and equipment staff.
“You can be a woman who works with a male team, but still feel out of place. And I think it’s really important how much effort and how much intentionality the football coaching staff and the football staff in general puts into making a comfortable environment for women to work with them in their program,” said Whaley.
Having so many women running a men’s D-I football program is an intentional move by head coach Glenn Caruso.
Caruso’s daughter Anna used to work alongside her dad, doing in-game strategy, and now works football operations for the Vikings.
“Some of my proudest moments as a father and a coach occurred at the same time, which was really cool,” he said.
