Increasingly women in nearly all sports are either leaving intercollegiate coaching or never entering in the first place. While most concern over women's sports has focused on the opportunities that federal equity laws have offered to female players--whose numbers have grown steadily--the ranks of female coaches have quietly dwindled. Last year nearly 60 percent of women's intercollegiate teams were led by men, the highest proportion ever. Back in 1972, the year Title IX of the Education Amendments was enacted, more than 90 percent of all women's teams were coached by women. The law requires colleges that receive federal funds to ensure gender equity in their programs. Indeed, as the law has raised the profile of women's sports, the job of coaching female players has grown more lucrative, more prestigious, and more demanding. As a result, the coaching positions have attracted more men. But at the same time, they have repelled many women, who now have better-paying professional options that may not require such all-out dedication. So far little has been done to alleviate the plight facing women in coaching. That puts college athletics behind much of the rest of the work world, including the rest of academe, which for years has been looking for ways to attract women and make careers more family-friendly. This year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association took the first step toward correcting the situation by recommending that colleges consider how they might make life easier for coaches with families.