Portland State Magazine Winter 1991

"It 's a complex situation, but I think it boil s down to a couple of critical fac tors: society and pay," says Teri Mari ani , who was an athlete at PSU from 1970-74 and began coaching here in 1975 . "Even with two adults working in families today, in most cases the major home responsibility still fa ll s on the woman. She's the one who soc iety ex pects to look after the kids and keep up the house. Coaching requires a huge time commitment for practices, travel and games. Not many marriages can stand the demands of such a hectic schedule." Another deterrent is compensation, says Mariani. "Coaches of women's sports are paid less than coaches of men' s sports, yet the expectati ons are the same. The coach still has to commit the time and work just as hard toward a winning season, but the financi al reward for coaching a women's team is less." Portland State rates about average on the issue of women coaches and admini strators. Of a total staff of nine head coaches and 17 ass istant coaches, four are women. Mariani , the onl y woman head coach, guides PSU's successful softball team, and last year she held an administrative post as ass istant PSU Women's Softball Coach Teri Mariani PSU18 athletic director. Mary Haluska, along with John Sorensen, serves as Mariani 's ass istant coach. Two other women, Marty Mozzachi and Terri Jo Schlatter, assist Head Coach Jeff Mozzachi with the women's volleyball team. Mariani is quick to point out that PSU's record isn' t from lack of trying to hire women. "We (PSU's admini stration and the athletic staff) are committed to hiring the best indi vidual for the job," she says. "The difficulty we face is a general decline in coaching applicants, both male and female. Plus, we' re competing with other colleges and universities nationall y for a smaller and smaller pool of qualified women who want to be coaches. As a woman coach and former admini strator myself, I' m particularl y fru strated that we don 't have the applicants we should have to choose from. " .. .she was granted permission to take the baby along on road trips .. ."It made for some interesting times." Coach Terri Neuberger W hat can be done to entice more women into coaching and administration? "We need to teach coaching skills along with the sport skill s," advises Mariani . "And , we ' ve got to really encourage more women to join the coaching ranks. That's the only way to build up our pool of candidates." Allowing coaches more fl exibility may be another answer, according to two former PSU women athletes. Terri Neuberger (' 76 BS, ' 82 MST) and Pam Grahn ('75 BS, ' 82 MST) both pl ayed volleyball under coach Marlene Piper. Pam Grahn , wife of PSU wrestling coach Marlin Grahn, taught and coached volleyball, basketball and track at Reynolds High School for 14 years. She is now an assistant volleyball coach at Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) in Gresham, Ore. Terri Neuberger, also married to a coach, (Carl Neuberger, volleyball coach at University of Portland), was a teacher and coach at Orient High School for 12 years and at Sam Barlow High School for three years. She was an ass istant coach at MHCC for four years before advancing to full-time teacher and head volleyball coach there in 1988. "I got into coaching really by accident," says Neuberger. "At Portland State l signed up for what I thought was a volleyball class, but it turned out I had volunteered for the volleyball team. From there, sports •