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GOSHEN, Ind. — As the first female coach in the NFL prepares to coach in the Super Bowl next weekend, the college in Indiana she went to is giving her an overdue apology.

Katie Sowers is a coach on Kyle Shanahan’s staff with the San Francisco 49ers. She got her degree at Goshen College and had applied for a coaching position at Goshen after she graduated in 2009. but the school admits they did not hire her because she is gay.

“While we cannot go back and change history, justice calls for us to stand up now and say that the way that Goshen College treated Katie’s offer to coach was hurtful and wrong,” said Goshen president Rebecca Stoltzfus in a letter. “I express on behalf of the institution our profound apologies to Katie Sowers and to all others who have not been welcomed here.”

Sowers talked about what happened to NBC Sports Bay Area. As a multi-sport athlete at Goshen College, she had applied for a volunteer coaching job after her graduation for the school’s basketball team. 

She mentioned how her coach told her some parents were uncomfortable with their daughters being around someone who is gay and that they couldn’t hire her.

“He said it was nothing personal,” Sowers told the network. “I remember hugging him but being extremely upset. It was something that I grieved about for a while, but I decided I had to move on.”

Now she is the first female to ever coach in the NFL and will be the first to coach in a Super Bowl. The 49ers take on the Kansas City Chiefs February 2nd. 

(PHOTO: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)