BOSTON — The Patriots have reportedly hired former Princeton director of football operations Maya Ana Callender, making her the second female employee in their scouting department and the first female scouting assistant.
Callender spent four years at Princeton, where she worked with NFL scouts as a liaison. According to the school, she was also involved in team travel, communication, player engagement and alumni relations. Callender follows director of scouting administration Nancy Meier, the team’s longest-tenured employee who joined the Patriots in 1975, as the only other woman in the team’s scouting department.
Callender also has NFL experience. In 2020, she was one of 40 women to participate in the league’s Women’s Careers in Football Forum. The Forum educates women working in college football and connects them with owners, general managers and head coaches. A year later, Callender had a three-month internship with the Eagles.
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In 2022, she attended the Phil Savage Scout School founded by Jets senior football advisor Phil Savage. That led to a month working with the Buccaneers on a scouting fellowship in August, where, according to her LinkedIn page, she assisted personnel staff during training camp. Callender also “evaluated positional groups and presented scouting reports,” and “learned how to watch film and identify strengths and weakness of each position.”
In 2016, Callender graduated from Utica College, where she worked as a manager for the football team.
The only other female employees listed in the Patriots’ football operations directory last season were software engineer Emily Capprini and assistant dietician Samantha Couture. Capprini joined the team last year, and Couture was hired in 2021.
Inside the League’s Neil Stratton first reported Callender’s hiring.
