For our fifth segment in our Title IX series, we pause to celebrate a titan in the world of women's sports.
In 1987, the
world was a different place. A wall ran through the city of Berlin, Aretha
Franklin was a chart-topper, disposable cameras were a new sensation, and Mark
McGwire of the Oakland A’s was a rookie sensation.
So the hair
might be shorter, the technology more advanced, and the politics different, but
a few things are still the same. U2 is still rocking out, Magic Johnson is
still making sports headlines, and Notre Dame Women’s Basketball is still in
the same good hands.
Muffet McGraw
was hired as Notre Dame’s Coach at a time when it was VERY good to be an Irish
fan. Tim Brown ran away with the Heisman trophy, Lou Holtz was proving his
mastery of coaching, and Notre Dame won its first national championship in a
women’s sport (fencing).
No pressure.
To be Irish was
to win. And win big. Luckily for Muffet, any fears of failure may have been
assuaged by the fact that women’s college sports lied very much at the
periphery of the American consciousness when she first took the job. A study in
the late 1980s found that only 3% of media coverage of sports followed women.
But she didn’t let obscurity get in the way of doing things the Irish way. In
twenty five years, Coach McGraw’s teams have assembled a .733 winning
percentage, seven conference championships, 10 sweet-16 appearances, and three
trips to the National Championship game, including a National Title in 2001.
Her foresight, skill, and leadership not only shot her to the top of A-list
basketball coaches, but also sent Women’s Basketball rocketing into the hearts,
minds, and living rooms of people everywhere. A sport that was seldom
covered in the 80s now has multi-year contracts with media outlets and
regularly hosts games in front of sell-out crowds. A debt of gratitude is owed
to Coach McGraw for the stewardship of both the
sport she loves and the school for which she has worked for the past quarter
century.
As we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the passage of Title IX later this week, let us celebrate a woman who has not only witnessed, but influenced dramatic change of the sport for so many people!
