Amy Trask Sees Progress in Promotion of Catherine Raiche; Next Stop Normalcy

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles' recent elevation of Catherine Raiche to vice president of football operations was described as historic in many quarters for good reason - it was.

Raiche is the highest-ranking female executive in NFL history when it comes to the personnel side of the business, surpassing the recently hired Kelly Kleine in Denver who had just re-joined Broncos GM George Paton as executive director of football operations.

Paton had been the assistant general manager to Rick Spielman in Minnesota and Kleine spent 10 years with the Vikings, most recently as the manager of player personnel.

The recent female empowerment in the league came with the personnel caveat because Amy Trask exists, the former Raiders CEO from 1997 through 2013 who remains the highest-ranking female executive in NFL history.

Trask's imprint on the league is so vast that back in 2019, when the NFL was commemorating its 100-year anniversary, she was named one of the top-100 "Greatest Game Changers" in league history, joining heavyweights like George Halas, Vince Lombardi, Pete Rozelle, Bill Belichick and her one-time boss, Al Davis.

Trask, like many around the NFL, was thrilled for Raiche and Kleine but also noted that she longs for the day where moves like those are not regarded as some kind of milestone.

"It is of course very exciting to see progress, to see development, but what's truly going to be exciting is when stories like these are no longer newsworthy," she said to SI.Com's Eagle Maven while appearing recently on BIRDS 365. "In other words, when everyone, every business, hires without regard to race or gender or ethnicity or any other individuality which has no bearing whatsoever on whether one can do a job.

"That will be truly, truly exciting."

That day has already arrived in Philadelphia with the Eagles.

Raiche was described as a "rock star" by one team source and had been shadowing current Browns GM Andrew Berry when he was the VP of football ops in Philadelphia with an eye on taking over the job, something that became official on May 27.

The plan was put in place by general manager Howie Roseman, who understood Berry was on a short pit stop in Philadelphia and would ultimately become a GM.

The day had long ago arrived in California whether the Raiders called Oakland or Los Angeles home.

"If we're all being intellectually honest we'll agree [Davis] was decades and decades ahead of others in this," Trask said. "He hired and I'll do this in order chronologically, not in order of importance, but he hired Tom Flores to coach the team, he then brought me in, and ultimately I worked my way up through the organization.

"He advanced Art Shell from a position coach to head coach so he did exactly what we're discussing. He hired without regard to race or gender or ethnicity and he was ahead of his time in doing so. He was a visionary and I'm a beneficiary of his vision of his open-mindedness."

More than 20 years after Davis was ahead of a curve that didn't exist to others, Lurie is still regarded as progressive.

"I think you got to give a nod to what [Davis] was doing this long before others were even discussing this," said Trask. "... When I started my career in the league in the mid-80s and I went to that first NFL owners meeting and I walked in the room, I was the only woman there so we've come a long way."

And what happened when Trask entered that room?

"I never spent a moment thinking about my gender," she said. "It never made sense to me. It still doesn't."

If there were hang-ups they were one-sided ones in Trask's mind.

"If I went to walk into any setting, any meeting, a meeting with NFL owners, a meeting with league executives, a meeting with Raider team ownership, with players, with coaches, with bankers with municipal leaders, with anyone. ... if I don't want them or I expect them not to, or I hope that they won't be thinking about my gender. For me to be thinking about my gender, it just doesn't make sense," she said.

Trask's mindset is a master's degree for anyone in the workplace.

"I'm asked all the time" 'do I think I was tested because I was a woman?' or 'was I tested because I was a woman?' Trask said. "And the answer is I don't know."

"Let's assume I was," she continued. "People are tested all the time. We are tested because of our race or our gender or our age or our seniority or our educational background or our ethnicity.

"I know this - the best thing to do when you're tested is pass the damn test."

Sound advice for Raiche.

Deliver in a results-oriented business and any ancillary issues will quickly melt away.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

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