Ashley Cornwell, a young woman with a deep background in coaching football, joined the University of Northern Colorado program earlier this month and likely hit another first with the Bears.

Cornwell is believed to be the first female assistant in program history though UNC was unable to confirm this with certainty, senior associate director of athletics John Kietzmann said. No women are listed among the all-time coaching staffs found in online records from 1995 to 2025.

Cornwell, a 2022 college graduate, started at UNC in early July and she’s here as a volunteer assistant to work with the offensive line — one of the team’s strongest position groups as fall camp began last week.

UNC started camp Wednesday morning, a month ahead of its season opener Friday, Aug. 28 at home against Big Sky Conference opponent Weber State. The game will be the first night game in the history of Nottingham Field.  Offensive line coach Nick Nissen was Cornwell’s initial point of contact when she saw an opening on the Bears’ staff. Cornwell previously coached at Division III Oberlin College, Division II Central State and Bucknell, a Division I Football Championship Subdivision program like UNC.

“We’re going off of the character of the human, not the actual human,” Nissen said. “Race, gender, religion, it doesn’t matter to us. We want people who can come in and do a job.” Cornwell declined to speak to the Tribune, citing a desire to focus on the players and improving her coaching skills. She started July 6, near the end of the offseason workouts.

“Having just joined the staff at UNC as a volunteer assistant coach, I don’t want any individual attention to become a distraction from what our team is working on and trying to accomplish,” Cornwell said in a statement through UNC Athletics.

Cornwell said she’s grateful for the consideration to discuss her background and story and hopes there might be a chance to speak publicly in the future.

“Right now, my priority is supporting our players and helping them have the best season possible,” she added in the statement.

Women in football

Over the last decade at least, it’s been much more common for female football coaches to appear on the sidelines of college and NFL games. Cornwell isn’t the only woman coaching college football in northern Colorado this year.

At Colorado State University, Mickey Grace is the director of player development, pass rush specialist and assistant defensive line coach. Grace came to CSU from the University of Connecticut with head coach Jim Mora, who was hired in December.

The NFL’s Arizona Cardinals hired Jen Welter as an intern in 2015. The following year, the Buffalo Bills hired Kathryn Smith to a special teams quality control position, making her the first full-time female assistant in NFL history. Smith later lost her job with a change in head coaches, which is common in the profession.

At the college level, Heather Marini was an assistant and quarterbacks coach at Brown University from 2019-24. Sophia Lewin is the wide receivers coach at Stetson.

UNC’s Nissen had an opening on the offensive line this year with another coach switching to defense. Nissen said he looked for a new coach with an opposite approach to his own. Nissen said he can be direct, with “a very in-your-face coaching” style. Cornwell can address a player’s mental approach and attitude, while also focusing on the details of the offensive line. These details include where a lineman’s eyes are focused on a play, where the feet are moving and where the hands are placed when taking on a defensive opponent.

“She knows the very extreme detail technique of O-line to the most advanced scheme of how emotion works,” Nissen said. “Where the receivers are blocking, what the progression is of a quarterback.”

UNC has been a member of the Big Sky Conference in football since 2006. Big Sky associate commissioner Tyson Rodgers said to his knowledge, a woman has not previously served as an on-field football coach with a conference school.

This isn’t the first time Cornwell has been first in her young coaching career. At Bucknell in 2024, Cornwell was the first female coach to be hired with the Bison and the first in the Patriot League, according to her biography with the football program.

Cornwell grew up in Wisconsin, where she played tackle and flag football with her twin brother. She was a four-year student assistant with the University of Wisconsin Madison program. Cornwell earned degrees in political science and international studies at Wisconsin, as well as a certificate in environmental studies. She was featured in an October 2023 story as a graduate of the Wisconsin International Scholars Program.

The scholars’ story said Cornwell coached football as a junior in high school. Cornwell didn’t coach at her own school, but at the closest available high school.

Her responsibilities as a student assistant with the Badgers ranged from breaking down film to working with assistant coaches in compiling data and information for scouting reports, said Patrick Herb, Wisconsin’s assistant athletic director of strategic communications for football.

She has participated in a couple of football-related programs designed to give opportunities to individuals who might otherwise not be found. One was the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. The other was the NFL International Player Pathway Program. Cornwell was an offensive line coach in the pathway program. The program started in 2017, and its objective is to find elite athletes worldwide and prepare them for a possible chance to make an NFL roster.

In a YouTube interview at Bucknell, Cornwell said the pathway program job was “hands down” the best job she’s ever had.

“Two and a half months to make them NFL ready,” she said. “That’s a huge challenge as a coach. And you’re working with guys who are underdogs, and I have a soft spot for the underdog.”

The Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship is a league-wide effort designed to give coaches from diverse backgrounds, such as women and minorities, exposure to NFL coaching. Cornwell did Walsh fellowships with the Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders and Cleveland Browns.

Cornwell wrote for the Walsh fellowship with the Browns that her goal is to be the head coach of an NFL team.

“My purpose in life is to serve others through coaching football,” Cornwell said. “Coaching allows me to pursue my dream of aiding the players and those I work with by helping take them somewhere they cannot take themselves.”

Earlier this year, the NFL hosted its 10th annual NFL Women’s Forum as part of a league-wide effort to make football inclusive for all. Cornwell is a two-time participant in the forum, which connects women in college football to leaders in the professional game.

The forum began in 2017, and 450 women have participated with more than 250 opportunities created for them in different levels of the game. Women are represented in scouting departments of all 32 teams, and the NFL has more women in coaching roles than any other male professional league in the world, also according to a news release on the women’s forum. In the 2025-26 season, there were 39 women in scouting and scouting-related positions and 23 women on coaching staffs. Both of these are records for the league.

In 2024, Cornwell attended the inaugural Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Coaching Academy. One of her fellow classmates was UNC defensive coordinator Preston Hadley. The academy is for coaches interested in breaking into the NFL.

Willing to work in football without pay

For the past 18 months, Cornwell has been involved with a women’s tackle football league called the Women’s National Football Conference. The 7-year-old league had 16 teams in 2026. Cornwell is the head of coaching development and resources. This role — also unpaid — entails working with teams to coach the coaches, according to commissioner and general manager Janice Masters.

Cornwell helps the league and teams identify coaching talent, she makes recommendations on coaching tools and she works on education and needed certifications, such as CPR training for coaches.

Masters said Cornwell’s role is instrumental in the league because she is helping and supporting the coaches who are shaping the lives of the women players.

Cornwell’s work with the WNFC is also unpaid. Masters said the league is in the middle of a capital fundraising campaign so she and other colleagues might earn money. Here’s another example of Cornwell working in football for no money.

Why might she do this?

Masters said the WNFC workers who are unpaid do it because of a strong belief and love of football. The game also offers a competitive outlet.

“People heavily involved in team sports can probably understand,” Masters said. “There is some sort of personality trait pushing the game forward and helping people playing it at high levels and safely.”

Masters described Cornwell as a person who dives in on a one-on-one level to understand what coaches might be communicating to her.

“She supporting them and trying to make them better and make the athletes better,” Masters said. “She loves the details, film and playbooks, and she’s really a student of the game. She wants to share that, and she challenges others to be the best coaches they can.”

Cornwell spent the 2025 season at Central State, a Historically Black College and University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Cornwell was the tight ends and assistant special teams coach. In 2023, Cornwell coached at Oberlin College, working with the offensive line.

Volunteer assistant coaches in college football agree not to be paid in exchange for the experience, UNC head coach Ed Lamb said. He said the volunteer coaches don’t do less than their full-time coaching colleagues, and he wants to try to compensate them for their work at some point during a season.

There are nine other volunteer assistants on the UNC staff this year: Ely Wulf, a student assistant with the offense; Jeremiah Wilson, a student assistant with the offense; Isaiah Garcia, a student assistant with the defense; Nolan Steckel, quality control with the defense; Charlie Haake, defensive analyst; Leo Blumentritt, a punter on the 2025 team and specialist assistant; Ashton Buckalew, special teams assistant; Josh Cisneros, a defensive line assistant; and John Dietrick, with the wide receivers.

Cornwell and these coaches might earn a stipend to help compensate her for her work.

“Anytime we do get some sort of operating funding, we try to at least make sure their gas is covered,” Lamb said.

Northern Colorado Bears head coach Ed Lamb looks on as his players participate in a drill during a Northern Colorado Bears football spring game at Nottingham Field in Greeley on Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Brice Tucker/Staff Photographer)

Lamb has been in college football for more than three decades as a player and coach. He said there are hundreds if not thousands of people who are willing to take on volunteer assistant positions. The tangible benefits include travel with the team and team gear, and these are expenses for UNC, Lamb added.

“We don’t treat volunteers with any fewer responsibilities than we treat our full-time people,” Lamb said. “These are positions that are coveted.”

Lamb said there have been a few changes impacting interest in volunteer assistant coaching opportunities. Teams are no longer limited to a set number of coaches who can instruct.

College football can also be a financially lucrative business at the highest levels of the sport now. Lamb said as with any business with a high earning potential, interested professionals in coaching will go for internships or unpaid opportunities so they can break into the industry.

From a player’s perspective, Lamb said, there is no group of people they won’t trust as a coach if the athletes see the coach can help them be a better football player.

“When we start to see coaches, and really any support staff members, through the eyes of the players, and their interactions, you really start to melt away all the other, what’s called, protected class categories,” Lamb said.