There are a lot of things you can do with a doctorate in psychology. Like be a psychologist. Or teach. Or be an NFL assistant coach. That's right, an NFL assistant coach, which probably puts that degree to ample use. Of course, oddly enough, a Ph.D. is only the second most surprising part of the Arizona Cardinals new coaching hire. The real story is that the new hire is named Jen Welter, who is obviously a woman, the first female coaching hire in the NFL. Now, to be fair Welter is a training camp intern, which means she may or may not be hired into a full-time position for the rest of the year. Regardless, she's broken a barrier once hard to imagine in the men's club that is the NFL.

She's not the first female coach in a men's game, of course. Becky Hammon is an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. There have been several women coaching men's college teams, and there's even a female head coach of a men's high school football team. So Welter is yet another cog in the wheel of progress, at the very least.

Yet there is something different, sacred even about a female coach in the uniquely masculine world of the NFL, professional American football at its apex. This is the same organization that's battling a perception of endless domestic violence, the same one that maintains scantily clad cheerleading squads on the sidelines. It has, throughout its existence, been a man's world, even if its viewership has a sizable female percentage.

While Welter never played in the NFL, for obvious reasons, she did spend over a decade playing football, including a short stint as running back in the men's Indoor Football League, also a first. So while she may not specifically know the NFL, it's not as if she never played the game, a common critique against women who dare enter any part of the male sports landscape, from management to media.

So Welter, whether she likes it or not, will be the role model and potential exemplar for 51 percent of the planet, or at least all those with an interest in American football. If she succeeds, then this could be a path for other aspiring women. If she fails, and let's face it, failure is pretty easy in the NFL, where coaches get fired about as often as they sun rises, she will be held as proof positive that women just can't hack it here. Welter will carry an unfair burden in her first ever coaching job in the league, even if right now she's still technically an intern. Such is the price and pace of progress.

But while Welter's hire is both a breakthrough and impressive, the question remains, is this truly progress -- or perhaps better phrased, is it the right kind of progress? Welter will be given a supporting role -- and very supporting, mind you -- in what truly is a man's game. The NFL, and its high school and college feeder systems, give endless and ample opportunity to glorify the male experience. As America's most extolled pastime, the sport serves as a reminder of masculine hegemony, a sport for which there is no female counterpart nor equivalent. So when Jen Welter joins an NFL staff, she is helping to build a sport that maintains, if not widens the gender gap, even if she's a gender pioneer at the same time. Such is the law of unintended consequences.

One could argue, and very possibly unfairly, that true progress comes when women are able to play football in a similarly adored business, something that's generations away -- assuming it could ever happen. And that would require more than pioneering women and male owners and players with a progressive streak. Right now, we do seem to have some of that in the Arizona Cardinals, where Jen Welter's hire was welcomed. But equal playing opportunities requires us all to change our notions of gender, and to put our money where that rhetoric is. For a country that's still only contemplating its first female president, a successful women's pro football league feels a long, long way off.

Of course, it's patently unfair to hold Jen Welter responsible for the state of gender politics, and it would be equally unjust to deny her the career opportunity of coaching in the NFL. In the general sports landscape, the majority of the most prominent positions support men's athletics, something that's true from little league to the seniors golf tour. So for women to play ball, they're likely have to support the very institutions that often keep them at bay. It's a tough concept to understand, and it will put Jen Welter's advanced degree in psychology to good use.