Jennifer King become first black woman coach for the Washington Football team

Jennifer King pushes her way into the career of being the full-time NFL coach for the Washington Football Team. The promotion King received was to assistant running backs coach, this made her the first black woman to become a full-time coach in the NFL. This promotion adds to the importance that the team has been placing on diversity after the troubling year the team has had. 

     The Washington Football Team, previously known as the “Redskins” changed its name and logo after the old branding was deemed as racist. 

     Before being promoted, King was a coaching intern with the team in the past season and before that worked with the Carolina Panthers as an intern.

     Washington Coach Ron Rivera says, “she earned this opportunity with hard work, the sky is truly the limit for her.” Like many other coaches, King has played football along with other sports. The 36-year-old was on the basketball and softball teams at Guildford college from 2002 to 2006. She was also the head basketball coach at Johnson and Wales University Charlotte from 2016 to 2018 and played Women’s Football with the Carolina Phoenix, the New York Sharks and the D.C. Divas.

     After being hired by the Washington Football team, King is now one of the only female coaches to face off during a playoff game, alongside Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar.

     The number of female coaches in the NFL has increased in the past five seasons, with a record of eight women now on staff in 2020, according to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports.

     Amy Trask, the first female CEO in NFL history shares a story with CBS News, saying “Someone walked up to me, the owner of a team, and asked me to get him coffee. And it was that moment when I looked around and I realized, ‘Oh, I’m the only woman in this room that’s not on the catering staff.’ And then shortly thereafter, the meeting started, and I sat down at the table and he looked over,” she continues, “you could see the blood draining from his face.”

     The past Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay was the first one in history to have two female coaches. These coaches were both on the staff of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

     King, being new to NFL coaching this coming year, says that she has already gotten words of encouragement from parents and daughters interested in football.