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Katie Sowers

First Woman to Coach in the Super Bowl, First Openly Gay Coach in the NFL

Categories Include:

Coaches & Executives

Health & Wellness

NFL & College Football

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Sports

Women

Topics Include:

Activism

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Inspiration & Motivation

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Leadership

Mental Health

Overcoming Adversity

Teamwork

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About the speaker

Katie Sowers is the associate head coach of Nebraska flag football. She joined Nebraska after a historic tenure at Ottawa University, where she served as associate head coach and defensive coordinator and helped lead the program to five consecutive national championships.

Sowers also... More

Katie Sowers is the associate head coach of Nebraska flag football. She joined Nebraska after a historic tenure at Ottawa University, where she served as associate head coach and defensive coordinator and helped lead the program to five consecutive national championships.

Sowers also served as head coach of the Italian Women’s National Flag Football Team from 2023-24. In that role, she organized and led selection camps, implemented training systems and game plans, and guided the team to a victory over Germany.

Before establishing herself as a leader in women’s flag football, Sowers made history in the NFL. She became the second woman to hold a full-time NFL coaching position, the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl, and the first openly gay coach in NFL history. She spent four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers as an offensive assistant, working primarily with the wide receivers, after beginning her NFL coaching career with the Atlanta Falcons.

Following her time with the 49ers, Sowers joined Ottawa University’s women’s flag football program, initially volunteering as defensive coordinator and helping the team win the first women’s flag football national championship in program history. She later joined the Kansas City Chiefs through the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship before returning to Ottawa full time as Director of Athletic Strategic Initiatives while continuing her coaching responsibilities.

Before coaching, Sowers competed for eight years at the highest level of women’s tackle football in the Women’s Football Alliance and was selected to the United States Women’s National Football Team in 2013. She holds a master’s degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in pedagogy from the University of Central Missouri.

Sowers has been recognized as one of Sport360’s 100 Most Influential Women in Sport and received the 2019 Rising Star Award from The Sports Power Brunch: Celebrating the Most Powerful Women in Sports. She was named Outsports’ 2017 Female Hero of the Year, was included in the Bleacher Report Power 50, and was named Kansas Leader of the Year in 2021. She has also been featured by ESPN, USA Today, NFL.com, Forbes, and Outsports.

Sample Keynote Speech:

Beyond the Field: A Journey of Identity, Purpose, and Possibility

In this deeply personal and empowering talk, Katie Sowers shares her journey from backyard football dreams to global representation, confronting bias, rejection, and self-doubt along the way. Through stories of resilience, family, and finding purpose, she challenges audiences to reframe hardship, lead with empathy, and believe in their own power — not just to break barriers, but to leave the door open for those who follow.

 

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