1st Female High School Football Coach Loses in Debut

With throngs of media in attendance to witness her make history, Natalie Randolph, coached her 1st game as head coach of the Coolidge Senior High School football team. Randolph’s debut game, however, would be spoiled by a 28-0 loss to Carroll High.

The rookie head coach, who is believed to be the 1st female high school football coach in the country will have to wait another game to collect her 1st win with the Colts.

"It's a football game. Like I told the kids, we played a football game, we happened to lose, and we move on," she said during a post-game press conference attended by major networks like ESPN and local Washington, DC media.

A Washington, DC native and former University of Virginia track star, the 30-year-old was hired in March to lead the Colts. She’s become a media darling in the area, garnering support from everyone. Friday’s game drew an audience in the thousands, far from the 500 that usually show up.

Unfazed by the loss Randolph, an environmental sciences teacher at the school, admitted both she and the team need to work on some things before the next game.

"We got all the kinks out and we know what we have to do for next week," she said. "We're young. We've got to stick to the fundamentals. We're going to work, we're going to look at the tape, find out what we missed, what we have to do, and we're going to do it."

After the game, Randolph, who played receiver for six seasons with the DC Divas of the National Women's Football Association, drew praise from the opposing coach Rick Houchens.

"Her main goal is to do something for the best interest of these kids," Houchens told The Associated Press. "We need more of those types of people. For her to be a female, and have that concept, it doesn't get any better than that. I have so much respect for her as a person."

Randolph did her best to downplay the praise and attention. Reiterating that her main focus was to improve on the Colts 6-4 record from last season.

My expectations are to do the best that we possibly can," she said. "At the end of the day, it's still a football game."