Tom Brady was hailed a modern athletic marvel when he was crowned king of the NFL last month at the age of 43, winning his seventh Super Bowl.
Take a seat, Tom. Lori Locust didn’t even start playing American football until she was 40.
Now 56, Locust has just shattered another glass ceiling, after helping Brady win that Super Bowl in her role as assistant defensive line coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In a world renowned for testosterone levels that shatter the scales and where women were traditionally thought of as cheerleaders, Locust has quickly changed perceptions in the only way that counts - people don’t look at her as a woman in a man’s world. They see her simply as a coach.
Her playing career lasted until she was 43 when torn knee ligaments forced her into coaching instead and after a variety of jobs for women’s and men’s teams, head coach Bruce Arians hired her two years ago for the Buccaneers, along with Maral Javadifar as strength and conditioning coach.
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Now, the richest and best players in the game take instruction from Locust as she puts them through their paces.
She said: “The way that our staff is set up is not to check boxes, not to be a trend.
“These are people that Bruce has chosen to be around him because he knows that we can all help him win and make the players better.
“And that kind of chemistry isn’t just throwing people on staff because it looks good.”
The NFL is building what they call a ‘pipeline’ to encourage more women to work at the coalface of the sport alongside men, with gender being blind.
“The fact their gender is different, who gives a hoot?” said Arians. “They’re good coaches.
“If anybody asks me if women can coach, I say, `Hell, yeah.’ I’ve seen it. And if they can’t do it, they get fired like everybody else.”
