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Big Ten Women’s Basketball VP Megan Kahn on raising the bar for gender equity

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark shoots over Maryland’s Chloe Bibby during the Big Ten tournament championship game last season. (Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)

At Big Ten Basketball’s combined media days in October, conference commissioner Kevin Warren announced the formation of a new position. The Vice President of Big Ten Women’s Basketball would be just the second role among the Power Five conferences to be focused solely on women’s basketball, showcasing the conference’s commitment to gender equity.

Last Thursday, the Big Ten filled the position with Megan Kahn, the former CEO and Executive Director of WeCOACH, an organization that supports the recruitment, advancement and retention of women coaches at all levels of sport. In a year when the inequities between men’s and women’s collegiate sports, and particularly basketball, have been pushed to the forefront, Khan is primed to lead the movement toward a level playing field.

Khan, who grew up in Iowa and has always been passionate about the Big Ten, will be tasked with “developing cohesive strategy to strengthen, enhance and expand the Big Ten women’s basketball operations, brand and strategic initiatives.” She’ll also serve as a liaison to head coaches, campus administrators and league’s television partners.

Just Women’s Sports spoke with Kahn about the new position, her plans for Big Ten women’s basketball and how she would like to see the conference continue to effect change at a national level.

What made you decide to leave WeCOACH and join the Big Ten?

I will tell you, I do love my job. I am so fortunate to never wake up in the morning and feel like I’m going to work. I’m just so passionate about what we do, serving coaches. Especially being able to do what we’re doing on a national level and impact so many women. I’ve passed on a lot of opportunities, but this one was just one that makes my heart sing. Having grown up in Iowa and in the Big Ten footprint, [I’m a] huge Big Ten fan. I have tons of friends and colleagues that are already in the league, and to go back to a women’s basketball-specific position at the best conference in the country is a complete no-brainer.

How do you think your experience at WeCOACH will help you as you step into your new role and attempt to take Big Ten Women’s Basketball to new heights?

My entire career journey has truly prepared me for this role. I’ve served in two conference offices, the ACC and the Atlantic 10 Conference. I’ve run two women’s Final Fours as the tournament manager, overseeing game operations, and then spent the last nine years here with WeCOACH, the last five as Executive Director and CEO.

I think that cumulative experience will help me be able to step in, come in with my own ideas, have an understanding of what it’s like to be in that position in a conference office and to really be able to elevate the brand.

For so long, [Big Ten women’s basketball] has probably not received the respect it’s deserved. Everything’s been SEC or the Pac-12, and both of those conferences have been extremely successful. But the strength of the Big Ten warrants them in that same conversation. The league’s probably as strong as it’s ever been, and that certainly was a drawing point for me when I was evaluating this position. When they first announced it, it was, “Oh my gosh, somebody gets to walk into a gold mine.”

You’ve mentioned that this job made your “heart sing.” What are you most excited about with this new role?

I get paid to eat, breathe and sleep Big Ten women’s basketball. How cool is that?

But for real, it’s everything that I love about college athletics and women’s basketball rolled into one job. So I get to come into a conference that’s already extremely successful, that has high standards for athletic excellence, academic excellence, which both align with my values. The product itself is fantastic. The coaches have done a phenomenal job recruiting talented student-athletes. They’re putting competitive teams on the floor every single night, so I have a great product to go sell. I get to talk and promote women’s basketball on a national level. I think the Big Ten has a chance to be a national thought leader and raise the bar and sort of set very high standards for what we’re seeing happen in the women’s game across the country.

And, I mean, this is unbelievable to walk into a position [where] you already have Commissioner Warren on board, right? How many times are women in our industry sort of fighting the leadership to get on board with what they’re trying to do in women’s sports? And you already have Commissioner Warren, who’s committed to walking the talk. So I’m walking into a position that has just tremendous upside.

What are your plans for growing Big Ten women’s basketball? Are there any specific strategies you’ve laid out so far?

My first official start date is Dec. 15. They’re going to be in the middle of their
conference season already. They’re less than 90 days from the women’s tournament in Indianapolis, so day one, I have to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

In the first 30 to 45 days, my goal is to be on every single campus and meet the coaches and start really cultivating those genuine relationships. From my understanding, they haven’t had somebody that has their back every day, right? There’s been nobody in this position that they can call, that they can trust and that they know is out fighting for them and in their corner and has their back day in and day out. So that has to be priority No. 1, for me to go and start building those relationships.

And then, two, start building relationships with the internal and external stakeholders of the game — the media, your television partner, your corporate partners, your alumni, your fans. I think there’s so much that we can do in the digital space to really grow the brand, promote the brand, which in turn will help our coaches with recruiting. It will help the student-athletes with NIL opportunities and all of those things that come about from elevating your brand and really driving brand awareness in the national landscape.

Then there’s the footprint itself, with the conference spanning from Nebraska to the East Coast, you have an immense television package. I think there are 6 million alums at Big Ten institutions, so we have all the makings for success. It’s just sort of putting all those puzzle pieces in place and starting that build. We’ve got to start walking up the mountain one step at a time.

I said this in my Big Ten network interview: My goal by 2024 is that we’re selling out the semis and the championship game of the tournament. There’s no reason — Big Ten Women’s Basketball is that strong — that we shouldn’t be gunning for a massive turnaround. I think just from a data standpoint, those are some pretty big markers that we could hit within two-plus years.

This is just the second senior staff position among the Power Five conferences that is dedicated solely to women’s basketball. What do you think that says about the growth of the women’s game and about the change the Big Ten is trying to implement on a national scale?

It’s a testament to Commissioner Warren and his commitment to elevating women’s sports as a whole and women’s basketball, and his willingness to invest in the position and really let his coaches know how much he believes in giving them a platform to raise the bar and to elevate women’s basketball. And I do think we will see others follow. I always like to say imitation is the best form of flattery, so I have no doubt others will follow suit in terms of what the Big Ten is doing … we’re just primed to be national thought leaders and raise the bar and set some pretty high standards and let’s go make others chase us, right? The goal is that we would be in a position to be at the top of the echelon.

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Megan Kahn (Courtesy of the Big Ten)

What was your reaction to disparities between the NCAA basketball tournaments last year? Was that part of the reason you wanted to get directly involved with the NCAA again, to push for real gender equity in college sports?

It was so heartbreaking for anyone who’s invested in the game of women’s basketball and women’s sports to watch that play out on the national scene last year. It was painful, and I am so glad to see the NCAA already making significant progress. I think if you asked the trailblazers who have been investing in and leading the game of women’s basketball for 20-plus years, they’ve been fighting these same battles. And yet it was continuing to say the same things over and over, but there was never progress being made. Not to their fault, it’s just there wasn’t buy-in, there wasn’t investment, there weren’t all the things in place that needed to happen for that progress to be made.

We’ve already seen significant progress with March Madness and the expansion of the bracket. … You take the fact that all that is happening in a very short amount of time, and these are the things that have been asked for for years, that’s progress. We still have a long way to go, but it’s encouraging to already see that much progress being made.

Expanding on that, what do you make of the NCAA’s response to the inequities and what else would you like to see change?

I do know that the NCAA’s working on a revamped strategic plan. I have no doubt that there’s going to be some trickle-down effects that will come down at the conference level, come down to the campus level, just really being able to elevate.

I think it’s going to be fantastic if they can unbundle some of those media rights that have had everything so tied up, that was limiting TV revenue, corporate sponsorship activation, some of those things that were really limiting what was happening on the women’s side. The two of those will absolutely create progress. I know they’re looking at a combined men’s and women’s Final Four as early as 2027. Next year, I think, is the first year they’ll go to two super regionals, but just so much growth and opportunity is happening on the national level, which is going to elevate all of women’s basketball across the country.

Talking about combining the tournament sites, do you think there would ever be a potential for that in the Big Ten?

I am not sure. I don’t know if that’s ever been talked about. I don’t know if that’s something that the coaches would even want … It’s a good question. I’ve asked myself that question, too.

Does it even make sense? How would you do the tournament format? Because each of their tournaments are, like, five days as it is, so how would the tournament bracket look? My hope is that, even if it would never be a combined tournament, we’re offering our men and our women student-athletes equitable experiences.

Beyond establishing your new role with the Big Ten, what positive steps have you seen the conference make toward gender equity and where do you see room for improvement?

I know Commissioner Warren has challenged each of their staff members to continue to come up with innovative and strategic ideas that can help elevate women’s sports across the whole. I know the leadership in the administration is looking at how they celebrate Title IX and give it the respect that it deserves in the 50th anniversary next spring. The fact that those conversations are playing out and the senior leadership team is committed to really implementing it and showcasing it and highlighting it and making it a priority that it gets done, I think is fantastic.

Let’s look at the combined media days that they had in Indianapolis in October. They’re one of the first to ever do that — input their men and their women coaches on the exact same stage, and their men and their women student-athletes got the exact same experience in the same building across two days. And the fact that BTN provided live coverage of all of that, that was innovative. And I know they pulled that off in a very short amount of time, and that shows Commissioner Warren’s commitment to really providing those equitable experiences.

What else do you have your eye on as you step into this role?

I think the one that comes out in the most public and visible way would be around the women’s tournament. Let’s make sure our women student-athletes at the women’s basketball tournament are having the exact same experience as our men’s basketball student athletes are getting in Chicago in 2022. That’s an immediate thing that I need to understand: What plans are in place for the ’22 tournament and where we can provide change and raise the bar?

The Big Ten has five teams in the AP Top 25, showcasing the conference’s strength and depth this year. How have you seen the Big Ten grow into a powerhouse and how do you plan to build on that success in your new role?

That’s the coaches. They’ve done a phenomenal job recruiting talented student-athletes, putting competitive teams on the court night in and night out. And they’re doing it as the best-kept secret in college basketball right now. They’re not getting the respect, I think, on the national level that they deserve.

The Women’s Basketball Committee, when we get to February and March and it’s time for Selection Monday, we need to do a great job of making sure that our teams have been seen, that I’m out there actively promoting and advocating for their selection, their ranking into the tournament. I think it was last year that they had seven teams make the postseason overall between the NCAA and the WNIT. Making sure that our teams get the recognition they deserve for postseason opportunities, that’s really important to me.

Emma Hruby is an associate editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @EHruby.

US Tennis Stars Advance as Wimbledon Field Narrows

Italy's Jasmine Paolini celebrates her first-round win over Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships
World No. 4 Jasmine Paolini fell in the second round of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday. (Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images)

The 2025 Wimbledon Championships wrapped its second round on Thursday, with the grass court Grand Slam seeing just 15 of the tournament's 32 seeded players advance to the Friday and Saturday's third round.

A full half of the WTA's Top 10 players did not survive the week, with 2024 Wimbledon finalist and world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini joining four first-round star exits by falling to unseeded Kamilla Rakhimova in a three-set, second-round battle on Wednesday.

At the same time, unseeded fan favorites like Japan's No. 53 Naomi Osaka and England's own No. 40 Emma Raducanu secured third-round spots at the London Slam, joining top surviving contenders like No. 4 Iga Świątek and defending Wimbledon champion No. 16 Barbora Krejčíková.

Notably, a full five US players managed to move ahead, tied for the largest national contingent still standing at the tournament.

Led by 2025 Australian Open champion No. 8 Madison Keys, the US group also includes No. 10 Emma Navarro and No. 12 Amanda Anisimova, as well as unseeded players No. 54 Danielle Collins and No. 55 Hailey Baptiste.

With matches against Świątek and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, respectively, Collins and Baptiste have a tough third round ahead — though Navarro's battle against the 2024 champ Krejčíková arguably headlines Saturday's slate.

US tennis star Emma Navarro eyes a return during a 2025 Wimbledon match.
US star Emma Navarro will face 2024 champ Barbora Krejčíková in Wimbledon's Round of 32. (Rob Newell/CameraSport via Getty Images)

How to watch Wimbledon this weekend

While world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is still holding strong in the dwindling field, this year's Wimbledon play is proving that the London Slam is anyone's to take, as the grass court humbles even the sport's top stars.

Expect the twists and turns to continue as tennis's best battle for spots in Sunday's Round of 16.

Round-of-32 Wimbledon play kicks off at 6 AM ET on Friday, with live continuous coverage of the tournament airing on ESPN.

Finland Opens Women’s Euro 2025 with Upset Upset Win Over Iceland

Finland's Katariina Kosola and Emma Koivisto celebrate a goal during their opening 2025 Euro match.
Finland earned a surprise 1-0 win over Iceland in their 2025 Euro opener on Wednesday. (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

The 2025 European Championship is officially underway, as Euro action kicked off with a group-stage upset on Wednesday.

Though the 2025 UEFA tournament's opener was a sweltering affair amid a European heat wave, world No. 26 Finland prevailed, earning a 1-0 upset win over No. 14 Iceland in Group A.

Finnish winger Katariina Kosola played hero, curling in the winning goal in the match's 70th minute — just 12 minutes after Iceland midfielder Hildur Antonsdóttir picked up the competition's first red card.

"The result is important for our confidence," Kosola said after Finland's first major tournament win since the 2009 Euro. "It was the kind of goal I have been practicing a lot."

"It's terrible to lose and we feel frustrated," said Iceland head coach Thorsteinn Halldórsson. "It is an even group and we knew Finland were good, but our first half wasn't good enough."

Elsewhere, No. 16 Norway closed out Wednesday's slate on top of Group A, taking three points by defeating host No. 23 Switzerland in day's second match.

Led by captain and 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg — who pulled the match even with a second-half strike — Norway battled to a 2-1 comeback win, despite the Swiss side outshooting and out-possessing the Norwegians.

Spain jersey hang in lockers ahead of the team's 2025 Euro opening match against Portugal.
Reigning World Cup champions Spain will open their 2025 Euro account against Portugal. (Aitor Alcalde - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

How to watch this week's 2025 Euro action

Group B steals the 2025 Euro spotlight on Thursday.

While No. 13 Italy snagged a 1-0 opening win over No. 20 Belgium to kick off the day, 2023 World Cup champions and tournament favorite No. 2 Spain will face No. 22 Portugal at 3 PM ET.

Friday's Group C slate will pit No. 12 Denmark against No. 6 Sweden at 12 PM ET, before No. 3 Germany contends with No. 27 Poland at 3 PM ET.

Closing out the first group-stage matches will be arguably the toughest draw of the 2025 Euro pool.

Saturday's Group D slate features major tournament debutants No. 30 Wales against the No. 11 Netherlands at 12 PM ET, with No. 10 France taking on defending champions No. 5 England to cap the day at 3 PM ET.

Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches will air across Fox Sports platforms.

USWNT Caps Summer Friendlies with 3-0 Canada Shutout

Yazmeen Ryan, Michelle Cooper, Claire Hutton, Mandy McGlynn, and Izzy Rodriguez and the rest of the USWNT huddle after their July 2025 friendly win over Canada.
The USWNT finished the summer international window with 11 goals, conceding none, across three matches. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)

The world No. 1 USWNT ruled the pitch on Wednesday night, shutting out North American rivals No. 8 Canada 3-0 to finish the international window on a high note.

Catching the Canada backline sleeping, US midfielder Sam Coffey opened the scoring at the 17-minute mark before 19-year-old Claire Hutton claimed her first-ever USWNT goal by heading in a Rose Lavelle corner kick in the game's 36th minute.

Houston Dash forward Yazmeen Ryan then padded the US tally in the waning minutes of the match, finding the back of the net just eight minutes after subbing onto the field.

Despite fielding a young roster, the US overpowered a veteran-heavy Canada side in almost every category, topping their Northern neighbors in shots, shots on target, possession, and — most notably — set pieces.

Canada ultimately couldn't match the game's mental pace or physical battle, as the USWNT scored all three goals off dead ball situations — a free kick, a corner kick, and a throw-in.

"It's not about the opponent," US head coach Emma Hayes said after the match. "It's about what we do, and I felt that was extremely dominant."

With Wednesday's contributions, the USWNT finishes the summer window with 11 goals scored across the three friendlies — and zero goals conceded.

The US now enters an extended break before reconvening for another as-yet-unannounced friendly series in October — but players will be expected to perform in the meantime.

"I said to the players in the end in the huddle, if you want to compete to win the biggest things, it's not what you do here that matters," said Hayes. "It's what you do when you go back to your club."

Seattle Storm Looks to Climb the WNBA Standings in Weekend Gauntlet

Seattle Storm star Nneka Ogwumike high-fives teammates as she's introduced before a 2025 WNBA game.
The No. 5 Seattle Storm will face No. 4 Atlanta and No. 3 New York this weekend. (Soobum Im/NBAE via Getty Images)

The 2025 WNBA regular season returns on Thursday night, with teams at the top of the league standings looking to prove their mettle against close competition across the long holiday weekend.

The No. 5 Seattle Storm have arguably the toughest weekend assignments, taking on the No. 4 Atlanta Dream on Friday before tackling the No. 3 New York Liberty on Sunday.

Four middle-of-the-pack teams will look to close in on a double-digit season win tally while the league's frontrunners strive to maintain their advantage in this weekend's slate:

  • No. 7 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 8 Indiana Fever, Thursday at 7 PM ET (Prime): Though still without star Caitlin Clark, the Fever hope to harness their 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup victory momentum against an Aces side tied with Indiana with an 8-8 season record.
  • No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 4 Atlanta Dream, Thursday at 7:30 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): Seattle will look to make strides against a strong Atlanta side while putting last Sunday's stinging 84-57 loss to up-and-comer Golden State in their rearview.
  • No. 6 Golden State Valkyries vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, Saturday at 8 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The rising Valkyries must face a Lynx side hunting redemption, as the league-leaders look to bounce back from their stifling Tuesday Commissioner's Cup upset loss.
  • No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 3 New York Liberty, Sunday at 1 PM ET (CBS): With injured Liberty center Jonquel Jones still sidelined, the Seattle Storm will have a chance to steal a weekend game against the reigning champs, as New York struggles to re-find their footing.

With the 2025 WNBA All-Star break looming, early top performers must keep standards high if they want to hold the line when the season crosses the midway point.

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