For the longest time, it was felt that women have no place in a sport like the NFL. A place dominated by nothing but male players. As time has gone on though, teams have finally begun to discover that just because they don’t play the game doesn’t mean women can’t contribute in a meaningful way. Several organizations have begun to take advantage of this, hiring them in either assistant coach positions or more often the scouting department. It appears the Chicago Bears have finally chosen to join this growing movement.
One great thing about the franchise in the past few years is that they’ve begun to truly embrace the idea of giving aspiring young coaches and scouts an opportunity on the big stage. This is done through the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship and Nunn Wooten Scouting Fellowship. One name they chose to bring in this year is Ashton Washington, most recently the Director of Recruiting Operations for Texas Tech University.
The first woman ever to earn a scouting position in Chicago.
“Washington joins the Bears as the first-ever female in the club’s scouting ranks. A native of Houston, Wash., she began her football career as the director of operations and recruiting for The Old Coach, a media outlet that covers high school football in Texas. She recently was named the director of recruiting operations and creative content at Texas Tech in March 2021. Prior to joining the Red Raiders, Washington assisted the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks as a gameday operations specialist.”
Given her close proximity to Houston, it’s hard to know how the Bears became aware of Washington. There are likely two explanations. Last year, she was the Director of High School Relations at the University of Illinois. Something that put her in close proximity to the Bears’ home base. She also participated in the NFL Women’s Careers in Football Forum which was attended by a number of league executives and coaches. The odds are she got noticed that way.
Despite being with Texas Tech for such a limited time, it seems she managed to help the program land some intriguing recruits. Among them being four-star QB Behren Morton out of Eastland, Texas as well as the transfer of talented Oregon quarterback Tyler Shough. She also played a role in the tremendous success of the Houston Roughnecks during her brief XFL stint. The only team to finish with a perfect 5-0 record.
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Chicago Bears are great about granting real opportunities
They don’t use these fellowships as a publicity stunt. A number of members of their coaching staff found their way onto the coaching staff through these internships. Assistant wide receivers coach Chris Jackson arrived in 2018. Then last year they brought in former Bears quarterback Henry Burris who’d just concluded a long stint in the CFL. He is now one of their offensive quality control coaches.
This bodes well for Washington. If she makes a strong impression in the next month, it is possible she could earn a full-time scouting position with the team. Something no woman has ever accomplished. The timing certainly lines up too as the Chicago Bears recently shook up their scouting department with a series of promotions and other adjustments.
It is a really cool story.
One has to imagine she feels somewhat overwhelmed by this. Most of her football career has been spent in the proximity of Houston. A place she’s lived in since she was five years old. Moving to a place like Chicago would be a monumental change for her. Here’s hoping she knocks it out of the park.