Hard Fought Victories: Women Coaches Making a Difference »

An in-depth look at the challenging lives of women collegiate coaches, Hard Fought Victories profiles coaches from a wide variety of sports--basketball, volleyball, tennis, softball, track, cross country, soccer, rowing, field hockey, lacrosse, cross country, and ice hockey--at U.S. colleges. Among them are older women who have witnessed enormous changes in conditions for female athletes and know firsthand the history behind those changes, as well as younger women just starting out in the coaching field, whose lives offer a glimpse of the future for female collegiate athletics.

Although coaches often receive less media attention than athletes, women college coaches are, in fact, pivotal figures within the college sports world. As a group, these women have worked hard to bring about positive changes for female athletes and have fought for equitable treatment for themselves as sports professionals. They are important role models and mentors for female athletes and often for other coaches as well. They are women who confront the still prevalent prejudices about female sports, and in some cases women who manage to "have it all" by combining parenting with their busy working lives.

Hard Fought Victories offers inspiring stories about the strong, competitive women who have helped reshape women's collegiate sports. The coaches profiled include Tara VanDerveer, the 1996 Olympic basketball coach and winner of two national championships at Stanford; ice hockey coaches Digit Murphy, who was involved in the ground-breaking Title IX lawsuit against Brown University, and Shannon Miller, the only female head coach for women's ice hockey at the 1998 Olympics; national championship winning track coach Beverly Kearney and championship winning softball coach Margie Wright; head coach and mother Muffet McGraw, whose 2001 team brought Notre Dame its first-ever women's basketball championship; and many more women who coach at both well-known and less prominent colleges across the country.

Library Journal

An instructor in English and women's studies at Portland Community College, Gogol has written a lively, well-illustrated book about a lively group of women: college coaches. The title refers to the games played on the court or field as well as to the battles fought for equity in women's sports. Though the road from 1972's Title IX legislation has been filled with obstacles, the overwhelming outlook of this book is upbeat. From the famous coaches (e.g., Tara VanDerveer) and well-funded programs (basketball) to those who toil in relatively obscure sports (track, swimming) or who must coach several sports, these profiles give us insights into how a coach spends her day, how she juggles family and work, and how she deals with problems with athletes, colleagues, and administrators. We are struck with the importance of women coaches both as role models of women in leadership positions and as mentors for female athletes. Most of the coaches can't imagine doing anything else. High school, college, and public library patrons will enjoy reading this inspiring and unique book. Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, B.C. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.