PHOENIX

Coaching women's sports has become a man's world.

At youth, club, high-school, college and pro levels, men are dominating head-coaching jobs in women's sports.

Women's participation in sports is higher than ever, a success of the 1972 federal law known as Title IX. It prevents gender discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal funding. Because of Title IX, female participation in high-school sports has soared to more than 3 million. In college, it has grown from 16,000 in 1968 to more than 180,000. Yet the percentage of women coaching women's college teams is near an all-time low (42.8 percent).

Some say that trend has helped women's athletics. Male coaches bring tested, aggressive playing styles from the men's game that can work wonders with accelerating women's skills.

Others worry that one of the promises of Title IX is slipping away as female athletes see mostly men in charge.

``If women were entering the coaching ranks of men's sports, it wouldn't bother me as much,'' said Linda Carpenter, one of two professors emeriti at Brooklyn College (N.Y.) who have biannually tracked trends in women's collegiate athletics since 1977. ``Men have coaching role models available all the time, but women don't. That becomes very, very important.''

Coaches, executives and athletics directors point to several key reasons for the male hiring trend.

Finding the best coach, regardless of gender, often leads to a male, even for administrators who say they would like to hire a woman. The higher up in the athletic world the job, the more this is true.

``We are always vigilant about seeking the top female candidates,'' said Arizona State Vice President for Athletics Lisa Love. ``What you find is there are a lot less of them as the pyramid gets tighter at the top.''

In three years, Love has filled four head-coaching positions for women's sports. All went to men.

Jason Watson is the latest. He makes it a clean sweep in Pac-10 women's volleyball: Every team now has a male head coach.