Jennifer King was a coaching intern with the Washington Football Team in 2020, and now she just made history.
A former offensive assistant coach at Dartmouth University, King was promoted to assistant running backs coach for Washington, becoming the first African American female assistant position coach in NFL history.
“Coach King is well deserving of the promotion to assistant running backs coach. She came to Washington eager for the opportunity to work as a full-year coaching intern and learn from our staff,” said head coach Ron Rivera in a statement. “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. She demonstrated all of the qualities that are needed to work full-time on my staff. She is a hard worker, a great communicator and a quality person. Coach King is always eager to learn and has shown tremendous growth since starting here last season. I know she will continue to be an asset to Coach Turner, Coach Jordan and the running back group, and she earned this opportunity with her hard work. The sky is truly the limit for her.”
King has paid her dues in her rise up the football ladder.
She played for the basketball and softball teams at Guilford College from 2002-06. She graduated with a BA in sports management and then moved on to receive her MS in sports administration from Liberty University.
Her pursuit of education was matched by her passion for sports.
She was a seven-time All-American quarterback and wide receiver for the Carolina Phoenix women’s tackle football team from 2006-17. A year later, as a wide receiver and defensive back for the New York Sharks women’s tackle football team, she won the WFA National Championship. After that, she played wide receiver and safety for the D.C. Divas women’s tackle football team.
King was not only an athlete but a leader. She was an assistant coach on the dominant Greensboro College women’s basketball team, which went 136-54, and captured five conference titles, during her 10 years there (2006-16). She then became head coach of the women’s basketball team at Johnson & Wales University Charlotte. In her two-year tenure (2016-18), the team went 37-10 and won the USCAA Division II National Championship in 2018. That year she was named the USCAA Division II National Coach of the Year.
Her transition to football was a natural one.
She attended multiple NFL coaching clinics and attended the NFL Women’s Career in Football Forum in January of 2018. She held two internships with the Carolina Panthers, working with rookies and on playbook development.
After a year at Dartmouth in 2019, where the team finished 9-1 and won the Ivy League Championship, King ended up in Washington as a full-year coaching intern. With her recent promotion, she now becomes the second female assistant position coach in the NFL behind assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that has one of the most diverse staffs in the league.
“I am very pleased to have Coach King back to assist me full-time in the running backs room,” said running backs coach Randy Jordan. “She was extremely helpful last year in seeing the game from a different perspective, and she was a tremendous communicator in our room. I look forward to continuing to collaborate as we move forward in our program and as she moves forward in her coaching career.”
A career which continues to shine brightly for a King.
