Diversity research has indicated that diverse management groups can often be a “doubled-edged sword” in that they can lead to positive or negative effects on a firm’s performance. Indeed, studies support the value-in-diversity hypothesis, which indicates that group diversity increases effectiveness of firms because they enhance perspectives used and offer improved problem solving capabilities (e.g., Richard, 2000; Siciliano, 1996). However, other studies support social categorization theory and suggest that group diversity is negatively related to performance (e.g., Acona & Caldwell, 1992; Tsui, Egan, & O’Reilly, 1992). The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the effects of diverse management groups on firm performance in coaching. Specifically, we assessed the impact of gender diversity among coaching staffs and an objective assessment of firm performance, winning percentage. Consistent with the value-in-diversity hypothesis, we predicted that gender heterogeneity among coaching staffs would increase winning, beyond the effects of team performance. Gender diversity data for two women’s teams (softball and volleyball) were collected from Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act reports for 2002-2003. Each team’s winning percentage and performance statistics (batting average, hitting percentage) were also collected from final statistics. Only teams supporting at least one assistant coach were used, and complete data were available from 396 institutions. The staffs were categorized into four groups for analysis. Homogenous staffs contained all female or male coaches (n=154), male dominated staffs contained more men than women (n=72), female dominated coaching staffs contained more women than men (n=103), and balanced gender coaching staffs contained equal numbers of men and women (n = 67). Analysis of covariance and simple effects tests were used to assess differences in winning percentages across the four levels of gender diversity, after controlling for team performance. Estimated marginal mean estimates indicated that the male dominated coaching staffs possessed the highest winning percentages (x=.57), followed by the female dominated staffs (x=.54), the balanced staffs (x=.53), and finally the homogenous staffs (x=.49), F (3, 391) = 5.35, p < .001. Follow up simple effects tests indicated that the each of the three diverse coaching staffs differed significantly from the homogeneous staffs. Thus, the hypothesis was supported in that gender diversity equated to superior firm performance, or team winning. Implications for the value of embracing diversity in intercollegiate athletics from these findings can be far reaching. However, future inquiry is clearly needed to further assess the effects of diversity in coaching. Keyword(s): coaching, diversity, gender issues