Notre Dame women’s basketball team head coach Muffet McGraw explained why she was done hiring men and said there needed to be more opportunity for women. (AP)
Muffet McGraw, the head coach of the Notre Dame women’s basketball team, explained why she plans on no longer hiring men.
In a recent interview with Think Progress, the 63-year-old Hall of Fame coach, said she would never hire another male assistant coach and believed women can do more to help each other. When asked by the media outlet if she ever planned on hiring another male coach, she said, “No.” McGraw has had an all-female staff for the past seven years.
“Women need the opportunity. They deserve the opportunity,” she said.
On Thursday, McGraw was asked about her recent comments.
"Did you know that the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1967 and it still hasn't passed?" she replied. "We need 38 states to agree that discrimination on the basis of sex is unconstitutional. We've had a record number of women running for office and winning, and still we have 23 percent of the House and 25 percent of the Senate."
The coach said she was “getting tired” that there aren’t more female leaders across the country and asked, “When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception?”
"How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future?” McGraw explained. “We don't have enough female role models. We don't have enough visible women leaders. We don't have enough women in power."
"Girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender rules are already set. Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It's always the man that is the stronger one,” she continued.
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw led her team to victory on Friday, April 5, 2019. (AP)
The coach argued that if jobs in men’s basketball mostly go to men then why shouldn’t it be the same in women's basketball.
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"When you look at men's basketball, 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn't 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women's basketball go to women?" the Notre Dame women's basketball coach said Thursday during her Final Four news conference. "Maybe it's because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division I. People hire people who look like them. That's the problem."
McGraw led the Irish to victory Friday night, knocking out UConn again. The team will defend the national title against Baylor in the championship Sunday night. The legendary coach has two national championships under her belt and more than 900 career wins.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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