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I’ll have to admit that I never even thought about it. Not once. Not even as an anchor of a local high school show. Not even as an avid proponent of women in sports. The idea of a female varsity head football coach never even crossed my mind. Now that it’s happened, I’m not sure why. It seems sensible enough, just not likely in the climate in which we live. I suppose that much hasn’t changed…but a woman coaching football at the varsity level…at least that much did change in Washington, D.C. on Friday.

Natalie Randolph was introduced in the nation’s capital at a press conference at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School. Apparently the amount of attention it drew could have rivaled any type of Washington Redskins presser (only this probably wasn’t quite as depressing). The 29-year-old teacher of biology and environmental sciences can now add varsity football coach to her resume – a resume she says wasn’t bolstered by her merely being female.

So how could a woman possibly be qualified to coach football at that level? I’m sure that’s what a lot of people thought when this announcement was made. The simplest answer to that is that she played. Randolph was a wide receiver for a women’s professional league for five seasons and she also served as an assistant at another D.C. high school. Group those attributes with the fact that she already knows all of the kids as a teacher inside that particular school, and you’ve got yourself a pretty rock solid case for why she would be a good fit in the football office at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School.

When asked about taking over a position that few women have ever held nationally, Randolph said, "People are going to say stuff wherever you go. I can't control what people say. The first thing is, I love football, no matter whose domain it is. I'm going to do it. If I let people dictate what I do, I wouldn't be where I am. While I'm proud to be a part of what this all means, being female has nothing to do with it."

As for how the players feel about welcoming a woman into what was previously an all boys club, the response was reportedly overwhelmingly positive.

"We're finally getting a coach and a coach that I like," said Oluwakemi Bamiro, who took Randolph's environmental science class last year. "We all respect her as a person, and that's all that matters. We all have mothers, so that's a coach. It's not going to be any different. We're going to be playing football on Friday nights, trying to get a W."

I’m sure that all the warm and fuzzies will blow over – as they do with the hiring of any football coach. But I must say that it’s encouraging that this has been so well received on the front side of things. I’m sure my way of thinking won’t be the only one’s changed bearing witness to this historic event…quite possibly the biggest victory in this entire process.

(Quotes from “The Washington Post” were used in this column.)