Hanover
“It was uncharted waters,” said Clark, a 32-year veteran of the profession whose team hosts Brown today in the Ivy League teams’ season finale. “What’s she going to be like and is she going to fit in? We’re five or six guys who spend an inordinate amount of time together and we wondered if we’d be able to have the same rapport.”
Forward three months and not only have those worries disappeared, but it’s hard to imagine Dartmouth’s season without 29-year-old Callie Brownson. A woman who wasn’t allowed to play high school football has won over virtually everyone she’s encountered with effort, adaptability and friendliness.
“At first we might have said something off-color or out of line and we’d immediately check ourselves,” said Clark, who’s become a mentor. “But she has a brother and a dad and she told us they’re way worse than we are.”
Brownson arrived for a two-week internship during preseason drills but made a strong enough impression that Big Green head coach Buddy Teevens offered her the full-time, 10-month control position when it was vacated before the opener. Brownson often arrives at Floren Varsity House before 7 a.m. and sometimes departs after 10 p.m. Quality control coach is an entry-level position and myriad jobs and minutiae come their way.
Brownson is charged with overseeing the condition and distribution of the footballs used at practices and, with other young coaches, the chore of setting up and putting away the blocking dummies and other tools used during those workouts. She’s also tasked with overseeing the defensive backs on the scout team, the reserves who imitate the formations and tendencies of the upcoming opponent.
College kids rarely fake respect, and it’s clear Brownson’s troops accord her plenty of it. It was the feedback of several players, in fact, that solidified Teevens’ inclination to hire the humble Virginia native.
“It was an experiment for everyone involved, but players came up and asked if I would consider hiring her,” Teevens said. “She’d coached some high school, so her starting point was higher than some guys coming out of college.”
Brownson said she was understandably nervous during the first few weeks. She wore football gloves and leggings under her shorts, almost as if she was still trying to be a player. But as time passed, acceptance spread from those inside the program to observers outside it. Story after story appeared in print and online, along with video clips telling her story.
That narrative begins in Alexandria, Va., where Brownson and her older brother, Brad, were raised by their father, Bruce. Brownson said her parents divorced when she was young and that her mother, who struggled with substance abuse, is only peripherally involved her life.
Bruce Brownson attended the University of Miami and watching Hurricanes football games on television became a bonding point for him and his daughter. Her pro football heroes were the likes of Dan Marino and Jerry Rice, but until seeing Marion Jones run in the Olympics, there was a dearth of women role models in the youngster’s sports world.
A youth football standout, Callie Brownson was turned down when she asked to try out as a freshman at Mount Vernon High. Despite a coaching change before her senior year, the answer still was no, so Brownson had to be somewhat consoled by being a softball star. Not once during her youth and high school playing career did she have a woman coach.
After badly breaking a finger during a junior college softball game, Brownson dropped the sport and transferred to George Mason (Va.) University, where in 2015 she earned a sports management degree. She also began working for her father’s Washington, D.C., company. Its massive database of political contacts is mined by lobbyists, nonprofits, businesses and government offices and Brownson had helped start it in the family’s basement.
While in college, she also began playing women’s semipro football and was accomplished enough as a two-way player to compete for the U.S. national team in 2013 and 2017. While doing so, she became fascinated by video study of practices and games and the secrets and trends it can reveal. She also coached softball at Mount Vernon and was offered an assistant’s job by a newly-arrived football coach.
Through an NFL initiative called the Women’s Careers in Football Forum, Brownson landed an eight-week internship in the New York Jets’ scouting department. That opened a door to working the girls portion of the famed Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana, which Teevens oversees. The coach was impressed by Brownson’s confidence and energy and she asked him for career advice at camp’s end.
A week later, Teevens phoned to invite Brownson to join in the first two weeks of Dartmouth’s preseason practices. She was one of two women brought on board, and when Seitu Smith, a former Harvard star and the offensive quality control coach, moved up to a role more involved with recruiting, Brownson replaced him.
Not only was Brownson a woman in an overwhelmingly male environment into which she’d just arrived, but also quality control coaches usually have spring practice and the summer to get acquainted with the job. Brownson found herself drinking copious amounts of coffee and being highly aware that if she dropped the ball, it would harm not only her, but other women who might follow.
“I wanted to make sure I covered all the ground, but I didn’t know what that ground was,” Brownson said. “Being the first looks good on paper and those headlines are sweet, but in reality it’s more stressful.
“The minute I lose focus or look tired, people will say ‘I told you women weren’t capable of this’. That’s a big burden to carry, but the people I work with lighten it every day.”
The offensive coaches became convinced, which won over the defensive coaches. Teevens treated her as a coach, which helped the defensive scout team players do the same. Their attitude was picked up by the rest of the team and media members, alumni, player’s parents and administrators came to the same conclusion. The players sang “Happy Birthday” to her during a recent practice.
“She’s lively, for sure, and very intense,” freshman nose guard Luca Di Leo said. “She loves getting everyone in the right place and she lets you know right away if you’re not. She’s super personable and everyone thinks she’s worth listening to because she’s trying to get us better.”
Brownson is not at all shy about shouting instructions and her slightly higher-pitched voice has become an unremarkable part of the practice soundtrack. As she’s become more comfortable, her inclusive personality has emerged.
On Thursday, Brownson jokingly walked down a line of players waiting to get into a practice drill and whacked each in the chest with a three-ring binder, as if she were a drill sergeant inspecting recruits. She’s been known to cover the microphone of her headset while on the sideline in the midst of games and suggest that video coordinator Jack Moore head for the end zone before a long pass attempt.
At Cornell last week, a cluster of reporters, administrators and staff members stood in a lobby outside the Big Green locker room after the final horn. Brownson, coming in from the cold, insisted on fist-bumping each person as she passed.
“I’m a completely different person than when I came here,” she said. “I’m finally getting to do what I’ve wanted to do for so long.”
Teevens is downright giddy over how things have worked out and said Brownson has exceeded his expectations. The head man can become a bit grim as the season progresses and its grind takes a toll. Mention his newest staff member, however, and his face can barely contain his smile.
“She’s a hoot,” he said proudly. “It’s gone from her being seen as a female coach to just being a coach, and that’s a good message for all of us.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.