Graziella Napoli is breaking through the gender barrier in the football world. She is going into her third year as a Defensive Student Assistant Coach for the USC Trojans. 

Kids are taught to dream big from the moment they enter this world, to set goals, and strive to accomplish them. However, for Graziella Napoli, her dream does not look like the typical female dream. She has set a goal to enter into a world that only a few women have stepped foot in, to coach in the NFL.  In 2015, Jen Welter broke through the gender barrier by becoming the first women’s coach in the league, a league that has existed for over 100 years. Welter has now paved the way for more women to enter the NFL, but still, the odds are extremely low. The saying goes “Nothing good in life comes easy”, and Napoli knows that the road ahead is going to be a narrow one with lots of barriers standing in the way, but this dream is worth fighting for. 

What started out as a passion to help the team in the equipment department, has now turned into her having a desk in the coaches’ offices. As of right now, she works with the linebackers for the Trojans. 

Just because her dream went against the norms of women can’t be football coaches, does not mean her dreams are unachievable. The world is shifting, and opportunities are rising, it is all about how much criticism are you willing to take, and how much blood, sweat, and tears are you willing to put into the game. For Graziella, she spent night and day inside the USC athletic facility to get to where she is today. 

“She was at everything. She was at the morning workouts, and afternoon meetings, then she was also at the PRPs (player ran practices). She was essentially showing that she was dedicated to working hard and showing up.” Parker Henry, Assistant Linebacker/ Defensive Analyst for USC Football said.

Who is to say that woman can’t be the next Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, or Lincoln Riley?

Composure is a quality everyone admires, but as the only woman in the office surrounded by young men, composure was a society for Graziella. It was intimating for her the first year. She battled constantly with herself if this was something she really wanted to get into. To push the boundaries and pursue something only a few women have been able to accomplish.

As a 21-year-old woman surrounded around men, you can imagine the backlash Graziella has had to endure. She was open about the struggles she faced, what people would say to and behind her back. She knew coming into the role was not going to be easy for her. Coaching is one department that makes up the whole facility. If you look at the recruiting department, it is run by mostly women. There is diversity within the program, just not in the coaching department.

“I got to be around Graziella, obviously she had a great relationship with the players but it never seemed like something that was crossing the line. Something that benefitted her was bringing in someone that they (players) were already comfortable with being around, knowing that she shows up every day ready to work hard.” Henry said.

The graph below shows the trend in women working within the NFL in some capacity over the past 14 years.

(www.statista.com)

Graziella has heard it all. “Women don’t belong in a man’s game”, “You didn’t even play how are you going to tell me how to do it”. She said at first those statements would anger and discourage her, but now she just takes a look at how far she has come. A turning point for her was when she got asked to start coming to meetings.

Not everyone gets to sit in on position and team meetings, that is exclusively for full-time staff and players. The fact that they allowed her to come shows that the work she has put in has meant something and that she deserves to be there.

In 2022, there were a total of six women coaches in the NFL.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and director of rehabilitation/performance coach Maral Javadifar. Washington Commander’s assistant running backs coach Jennifer King, New York Giants offensive quality control coach Angela Baker, Cleveland Browns chief of staff/assistant wide receivers coach Callie Brownson and Philadelphia Eagles sports performance coach Autumn Lockwood are the others. On average, a coach’s staff consists of 10 personnel. That means out of the 320 coaches in the NFL in 2022, there were only six females

Although Graziella has her foot in the door at one of the most prestigious universities and one of the best football programs in the country, she has had some significant realizations. 

Being a coach in the NFL and even college is one of the highest pressured and time-consuming jobs. You worked seven days a week and are at the facility from sun up to sun down. The work-life balance is not ideal, especially when you have a family. Most jobs in sports are going to be time-consuming, but the life of a coach is on a different level. There will be some days that you sleep in your office and days when you don’t get to see your family. 

Graziella attended the NFL’s women’s forum last month where she was able to connect with women working their way into the NFL and she was able to gain valuable wisdom. It was through this forum that she realized maybe coaching wasn’t the route she wants to take. She did mention that she wants to stay in coaching for a little bit longer. But, in the end, she wants to become a General Manager for a team. 

She has not given up on the dream to become an NFL coach, she did mention that if the opportunity were to rise of course she would take it. Although, expectations may have become more realistic and life outside of football may be more important to her.

One person who knows about fitting into the football world is the current Director of Football communications, Katie Ryan. Ryan did not play a down of football yet has found her way to the top of her field at one of the top football powerhouses in the nation. Ryan made it a point almost two decades ago to learn everything there is to know about the game of football and not just the basics. Her career started in college when she started a blog for the Cal Poly Slo football team, where she would write practice reports and upload pictures of the players.  

“Obviously I did not play football growing up, but that meant taking a lot of time and studying, time watching football games, reading about the sport, reading news articles, and listening to podcasts. I even use to watch films with some of the coaches and have them explain some of the in-depth things that you don’t get from being a fan. ”  Ryan said. 

Ryan spent nine years working under Tessalone for free as his intern. Eventually, he would go on to offer her a full-time job. She now sits at the desk that was once his.  Ryan did mention that she does see many more opportunities coming Graziella’s way.

“The fact that she has the opportunity to be on the field every day, where a headset and stand right next to our defensive coordinator. I think it’s a really unique story” Ryan said.

There are numerous women that work within the USC football department, but none as a student assistant coach. (double check if she is the first). One of them is Jenna Muhammdin, she works closely with Graziella and says that Graziella is a major impact on changing the program and is someone that she looks up to. Jenna started working for the recruiting department in 2022 after transferring from LSU. Currently, she is Chris Carter’s (Director of Player Development) assistant. She has this to say about Graziella. 

“Just being a woman working in football is hard enough, I could not imagine trying to be in the coaching world of this male-dominated sport. Graziella has shown nothing but pure strength and resilience. I am sure there are some hard days, but you would never know it by the way she conducts herself within the building.” 

Within USC’s football facilities, almost every department works on the same floor. Therefore, Jenna is able to see Graziella just about every day. 

“She is so dedicated to learning every aspect of this game, almost every time I walk past her office, she is at her desk watching practice or game film. Of course, you would like to see more women around, but I walk around our facility and there are women everywhere. From our strength staff, nutrition, and recruiting to interns. It’s honestly great to see things starting to change, I hope that in the future we can see more progress.” Muhammdin said

Graziella is a pioneer for a school that stands on the hill of diversity and inclusion. Although I would argue that her story deserves to be highlighted by the University further. She mentioned that she does not need the recognition but it would be nice. One person that showed their appreciation was Head Coach Lincoln Riley who re-tweeted a Twitter post about Graziella when she attended the NFL Womens Forum. 

However, with a school of history like USC, with all the scandals and blemishes on their reputation you would think that a story like this, a young woman like Graziella would have some more featured stories done about her. 

“It created a comfortable environment for me going into football practice. Seeing her have such bold communications with the boys and they all listen to her and respect her. Knowing that she knows she is supposed to be there, instilled confidence in me as I was super hesitant not being really familiar with the game.” Said Sixx Orange a Student Intern for USC Football Communications. 

Currently, Graziella is a senior working towards her degree in Communication. However, this will not be her last season with the team, she will look to take a fifth year in order to stick around a little bit longer. Throughout her time with USC, she has been able to learn under some amazing coaches. *insert quote about her favorite coaches and what she has learned from them*. As a woman trying to be a coach at the highest level possible. It is pivotal that she soaks up as much knowledge about the game as possible. There is already a misconception that women cannot be coaches because most never touched the field themselves. Although this argument is statistically correct, that does not mean you can learn the game from an outsider looking in.