Meet Jennifer King, The NFL's First African American female Full-Time Assistant Coach
Black History month has been a little rough but Jennifer King may have just saved it. This past week, the Washington Redskins announced that King would be the first African American woman to be a full-time assistant coach. To be clear, she is no stranger to the NFL. King has spent the last two summers as a coaching intern with the Carolina Panthers under new Redskins coach Ron Rivera, where she was an assistant wide receivers coach. She also worked with Christian McCaffrey last summer and the Panthers running back went on to have on the best offensive seasons by a running back in his position. She also was a participant in the NFL coaching clinics from 2015-2018 and also took part in the NFL Women’s Career in Football Forum. The forum was a specialized two day event that connected several qualified female candidates for positions in football as coaches, officials, scouts, and athletics trainers.
In her newly acquired position, she will work with the offensive staff during training camp and the season. And she will work directly with Randy Jordan and the running backs.
The Rockingham County native has an impressive resume. She was an All-American Quarterback and wide receiver for the Carolina Phoenix Women’s tackle football team from 2016-2017. In 2018, King played as a wide receiver and defensive back for the New York Sharks women’s tackle football team and captured the 2018 WFA National Championship. She played wide receiver and safety for the Washington DC Women’s tackle team in 2019. From 2016-2018 she was the head coach for the Johnson and Wales University Charlotte’s basketball team. They went on to have a 37-10 record and won the USCAA Division II National Championship in 2018. Also, during this time she was named the USCAA Division II National Coach of the Year. For 10 years (2006-2016) she was an assistant coach on the Greensboro College Women’s basketball team and during those extensive years, the team had an remarkable 136-54 record. They also won conference titles and appeared in the NCAA tournament five times. Recently, King served as the offensive assistant coach for Dartmouth College last year. The squad finished 9-1 and averaged over 33 points per game.
Ms. Jennifer King has high expectations for herself for her future in the NFL. She recently sat down with Sports Washington and talked about her future goals. “Ultimately, I would love to be a coordinator. Now I’m at the bottom of the food chain but I’ve been moving up. I’m learning a lot and I’m super excited to be here and work with [offensive coordinator] Scott [Turner] and his staff.”
Congratulations Jennifer King and what a great milestone during Black History Month!
