Jennifer King is stepping up the ranks and with her new position she becomes the first African American to be appointed a full-time coach in the National Football League (NFL).
Her promotion to assistant running backs coach was confirmed on Tuesday by Washington Football Team.
“First of all, she knows the game. It’s really helped me in terms of seeing the game in a different view…When we first started, I leaned on her a lot in terms of the terminology and the different things. Then, the way she’s worked with the guys, she’s just Coach King to us. Her input throughout the game, there are things I may not see, and she’ll point it out to me…Her input is very, very important not only to me, but to the entire staff. She’s been doing a heck of a job,” Jordan said.
She spent the 2020 season as an intern under Washington head coach Ron Rivera, and running backs coach Randy Jordan.
“Coach King is well deserving of the promotion,” said Rivera. “She earned this opportunity with her hard work. The sky is truly the limit for her.”
King’s appointment comes as part of by the #NFL to increase the number of women earning coaching opportunities.
In a statement on the Washington Football Team website, King said: “It’s a direct testament to those coaches who are forward thinking and opening up the entire pool when they’re looking for people, to hire people to make their programmes better.
“I don’t think it’s an oddity that those play-off teams had so many female coaches involved because those coaches created cultures of growth and inclusion, and those things generally create wins.”
Jennifer King spent last season as a full-year intern. According to The Washington Post, King is a former college basketball coach who made a name for herself with Coach Ron Rivera as an intern on his Carolina staff. King worked with the receivers and running backs and became a valuable member of Rivera’s team. In February, she joined The Washington Football Team’s staff as a full-time intern, becoming the first woman in the franchise history to be hired as a coach.
