Black Woman Vice President? Check. Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Check.
And now, it’s time for another first: Jennifer King has become the first black female assistant coach in an NFL team. The Washington Football Team announced last Tuesday that they had promoted her.
Made For Greatness
In 2020, King was a coaching intern for the whole year. As an intern, her role included working with the offensive staff for the entire regular season, training camp and offseason. In particular, she helped Randy Jordan, the running backs coach.
King joins the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust as the only full-time female coaches right now in the NFL.
Last season, King made headlines with Callie Brownson, the chief of staff of the Cleveland Browns, for working as coaches within a match that female referee Sarah Thomas officiated.
Before this role, King worked for two seasons as an intern with the Carolina Panthers.
At Dartmouth, she also worked as a quality control coach. In addition, she worked as a special teams assistant and an assistant receiver for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football.
Before that, she played as a receiver and quarterback for the Carolina Phoenix of the Women’s Football Alliance between 2006 and 2017.
Working Towards History
Ron Rivera, the head coach of the Washington Football Team, said that King is a quality person and a hard worker. He added that she deserves the promotion to her current position.
When she joined the team, she was eager to work as a coaching intern for a full year and learn from the team’s staff members.
During her internship, King learned about the in-season work that a full-time coach experiences every season.
In addition, she also experienced the countless hours that a coach spends preparing the team for the offseason.
Coach River was pleased about the level of growth she has shown along with how much she has grown since joining the team.
Jennifer King Building A Winning Team
J. D. McKissic is one of the players that King has pushed to become better.
After one of his coaches berated him, he was stuck on the bench of the Washington Football Team. Then, last December, his team was facing Pittsburgh Steelers, who were undefeated until that point.
The team was looking for an upset.
McKissic revealed that Coach King told him to pull it together. That motivation was part of the incentive that pushed the team to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Among the league’s running backs, McKissic’s career for Washington involves receiving 589 yards and getting the second-highest catches at 80. He said that King’s work was partly responsible for his success.
To McKissic, King has always been the team’s assistant coach.
Hope For The Future
When King was working as an intern, she did not have anyone who looked anything like her in a similar position. She said how much she is pleased that she can help to be a part of history.
We know that she’s going to knock our socks off, and we hope that someday soon she will soon become a head coach.
