Jennifer King is the first African American woman ever to be hired as a full-time assistant coach in the NFL, and the fourth woman in the league. She began her career as an assistant basketball coach at Greensboro College in North Carolina. Later, she became the head coach for women’s basketball at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte.
She says that her attendance at an NFL forum during the Pro Bowl in Orlando in 2017 was critical to her NFL career because she “learned a lot from the coaches and receivers, and formed great bonds there.”
During the summers of 2018 and 2019, Jennifer worked with the Carolina Panthers as an intern under Ron Rivera, who at that time was the team’s head coach. She also worked closely with Jake Peetz, who at the time was the team’s running backs coach.
She later became an offensive assistant at Dartmouth College.
However, in 2020, Ron Rivera became the head coach for the Washington Redskins, and he decided to bring Jennifer along with him in a very historic way. He hired her as a full-year coaching intern, making her the first African American woman in NFL history to have the responsibilities of a full-time assistant coach. She is also the first woman to coach for the Redskins in any capacity.
Jennifer holds a masters of science in sports administration from Liberty University, and a bachelor of science in sports management from Guilford College.
Other female coaches in the NFL include: Lori Locust, assistant defensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Maral Javadifar, assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and Katie Stowers, offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers.