ATLANTA -- Carol White is unique.
It is believed that White, a 38-year-old grad student at Georgia Tech, is the only female football coach at a Division 1-A school. If there are others out there, the word hasn't reached these parts.
White, who is working toward a doctorate in organizational behavior, had served as an assistant coach while working as a media specialist at Monroe High School in Albany, Ga., and, before she enrolled at Georgia Tech, was talked into joining the Yellow Jackets staff as a graduate assistant specializing in place kicking.
She had made it a practice to attend as many clinics as she could and was at Georgia Tech's coaching clinic last year when the subject of coaching for the Yellow Jackets first came up.
'I was approached by Coach (Larry) New and Coach (John) Guy about being a graduate assistant,' she said. 'I told them they both were crazy, but Coach Guy was very persistent about it.'
Tech Head Coach Bill Curry feels comfortable about having White on his staff.
'She's so competent,' said Curry, 'I've given her some administrative duties as well.'
White served as both the varsity and junior varsity kicking coach at Monroe High and became so interested in that aspect of the game she began attending kicking clinics.
'I didn't chose to be non-traditional,' she said. 'I gravitated to it as a necessity because the school was short of assistants at the time.'
Georgia Tech currently has one of the better college kickers - senior David Bell, who hit on 21 of 26 field goals and 45 of 46 extra points the past two seasons.
This is Bell's second season of working under White's direction and while he admits the idea of having a woman coach was a bit hard getting used to, 'there's no problem now.'
'She really knows what she's talking about,' said Bell. 'She's real detailed about it. She doesn't actually work that much with me, more with the younger kickers, but when she spots something I need to work on, I'm more than happy to accept her advice.'
'I don't see myself as a feminist,' said White. 'I had interests. I didn't pursue them to challenge people, but to challenge my mind.
'There has been no trouble. People who are secure in their football knowledge don't object to having a woman on the staff. There's no insecurity. The fact I was invited to be a part signifies that. There's no jealousy, no infighting you find on some football staffs.'
A native of Jericho, Vt., who moved south after her mother, Dr. Ruth Ormston, was divorced, White went to Southern Mississippi on a band scholarship. After getting her BA there, she got her masters at Florida State and a doctorate in education at the University of Georgia.
'I came to Georgia Tech more for football than for another degree,' said White, who added that although she gets only $7,500 a year as a graduate assistant, she doesn't see herself becoming a full-time college assistant coach.
'Rather I see myself as a volunteer coach,' she said. 'I don't think it would be fair to the staff or to the alumni to insist on a regular job. As a single female, I need financial security and football is not financially secure. If the staff was dispersed after a losing season, I wouldn't be in a position to pick up and move on to another college.
'Still, I'd like to always be involved in football. I plan to write and teach -- maybe teach other kicking coaches and give clinics on kickers and their problems.'
adv weekend, Sept.
