Phil Miller tells of a new study that finds female athletes prefer male coaches. From a report on the study in the Chronicle of Higher Education this morning,

"This is one of the few professions where women's participation has declined," says Robert W. Drago, a professor of labor studies and women's studies who is one of the report's five authors. "What will make it difficult to turn around is the fact that so many women athletes seem to prefer male coaches."

The report's authors found that most of the 41 female athletes they interviewed in three different focus groups thought male coaches were better at commanding respect and that female coaches tended to create more "drama." One woman said that "there's just something more credible about male coaches." The 41 women included participants from all three divisions in the National Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Phil's worried he'll be the next Larry Summers. Many have a problem distinguishing employer or employee discrimination (the latter being that your workers don't want to work with workers from another ethnic group -- think Ty Cobb) from customer discrimination. Are female athletes the "customers" of coaching services? "Yes, Coach is a drama queen, but she's your drama queen so you better get used to her. And you need to work with her for the good of women everywhere."