College soccer coach reflects on 50 years of Title IX

HOUSTON, Texas — The associate head soccer coach at Rice University talks about the effect of Title IX on her life and career. Megan Kinneman is from the Greater Houston area. She played as a goalkeeper at Louisiana State University where she broke several school records, including becoming the all-time record holder for career saves. After college, Kinneman went on to play professionally for a couple of years including for the Houston Dash.

Following the end of her professional career, Kinneman went on to coach at the collegiate level, including time on the LSU staff where she helped lead the team to an SEC Championship. During the 2018 SEC tournament, she coached LSU goalkeeper Caroline Brockmeier to tournament MVP honors.

In 2017, Kinneman joined 29 other female soccer players to play a game on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, which the Guinness Book of World Records recognized as the highest altitude soccer match ever played. That game was part of the Equal Playing Field Initiative, a non-profit that takes on gender inequality in sports and promote sports development for women across the globe. Thursday, June 23, 2022 is the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark anti-discrimination law that helped level the playing field for female athletes nationwide. Kinneman is now in her third season coaching at Rice.