Woman Seeking to Coach Prep Football Files Suit

A woman who wants to coach high school football filed a $151,450 sex discrimination suit against the District of Columbia Thursday for giving her the job last year and then taking it away.

Wanda A. Oates, who has collected a dozen city championships in 20 years of coaching girls’ and boys’ sports at Ballou High School, filed the suit in U.S. District Court, claiming she was given the job last June.

But a deputy school superintendent stepped in and told Ballou to rehire the former coach, a man, who had been routinely dismissed because of his temporary status, Oates said.

“I believe I was denied the job because I am a woman, not because of my credentials as a coach,” Oates said. “I’ve proven I’m a winner in every sport I’ve coached. I want my team.”

She said she was told by another football coach earlier this year that several of the other coaches had complained to the school superintendent about her appointment. “It seems they did not want to coach against a woman, and that they especially did not want to lose against a woman,” she said.