My1sttoday: Jennifer King becomes Washington team and NFL’s first black female assistant position coach. King will join the full-time coaching staff after spending the 2020 season as a coaching intern under head coach Ron Rivera, during which she assisted running backs coach Randy Jordan, Washington Football announced.
King will be the second woman in the NFL to take on an assistant position coach after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Lori Locust became an assistant defensive line coach in 2019.
Congrats, Coach King!
With her promotion, Jennifer King becomes the first African American female assistant position coach in @NFL history!
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) January 26, 2021
Rivera called King “deserving” of the role in a released statement, saying she came to D.C. “eager for the opportunity to work as a full-year coaching intern and learn from our staff.”
“She got the chance to experience not only the in-season work that goes into being a full-time coach in this league but also the countless hours that are spent preparing in the offseason as well,” he said.
“The sky is truly the limit for her,” he added.
From intern to full-time, @JenniferKing5 put in the work and earned her spot
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) January 26, 2021
During the 2020 season, King worked with a running back group that had 423 attempts for 1,697 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns.
The new assistant coach previously interned at the Carolina Panthers during the offseason in 2018 and 2019. She also worked as an offensive assistant at Dartmouth College, mostly focusing on the wide receivers.
King herself was a seven-time All-American quarterback and wide receiver for the Carolina Phoenix women’s tackle football team, before also playing for the New York Sharks and for the D.C. Divas.
She also coached women’s basketball as the head coach of Johnson & Wales University Charlotte for two years.
