Jennifer King

Jennifer King (born August 6, 1984) is an American football coach who is the assistant running backs coach for the Washington Football Team of the National Football League (NFL). King was one of the few women to have ever coached in the NFL and was the first black woman to become a full-time coach in the league following her promotion to assistant running backs coach in 2021. A former two-sport athlete at Guilford College, she has also coached women's college basketball.

Jennifer King
Washington Football Team
Position:Assistant running backs coach
Personal information
Born: (1984-08-06) August 6, 1984
Eden, North Carolina
Career information
High school:Rockingham County
College:Guilford
Career history
As player:
As coach:
Career highlights and awards
As player
  • WFA Division II champion (2018)

Early life and college

King was born August 6, 1984 in Eden, North Carolina and was raised in Reidsville, North Carolina.[1] She attended Guilford College, where she played college basketball and softball, before graduating with a degree in sports management in 2006.[2] Following graduation, she played in the Women's Football Alliance (WFA), where she was a quarterback and wide receiver for the Carolina Phoenix from 2006 to 2017, a defensive back and wide receiver for the New York Sharks in 2018, and safety for the D.C. Divas in 2019. She was a part of the Sharks team that won the 2018 WFA Division II Championship.

Coaching career

Basketball
Playing career
Basketball
2002–2006Guilford
Softball
2002–2006Guilford
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2006–2016Greensboro (assistant)
2016–2018Johnson & Wales
Head coaching record
Overall37–10 (.787) (college)
Tournaments3–0 (USCAA Division II)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 USCAA National (2018)
Awards
USCAA Women's Division II Coach of the Year (2018)

King was an assistant coach at Greensboro College from 2006 to 2016, where the program compiled a 182–63 record, 5 regular season championships, 2 conference tournament championships, and four NCAA tournament appearances. She was hired as the women's basketball head coach at Johnson & Wales University in North Carolina, where she turned around a program that had existed for only two years prior into a national champion within two seasons.[3][4]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Johnson & Wales Wildcats (Eastern Metro Athletic Conference) (2016–2018)
2016–17 Johnson & Wales 15–62–0
2017–18 Johnson & Wales 22–4USCAA Division II National Champion
Johnson & Wales: 37–10 (.787)2–0 (1.000)
Total:37–10 (.787)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

American football

King was one of 40 women to attend the NFL's Women's Forum in 2018, where she met then-Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera and expressed her interest in working with in the NFL.[5] She was hired as an intern by the Panthers later that year, where she assisting in coaching their wide receivers. She got her first full-time coaching gig in 2018 as an assistant wide receivers and special teams coach for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football (AAF).[6] After the AAF folded in 2019, King was once again brought on as an intern for the Panthers, this time working with the running backs.[7]

King was also named an offensive assistant at Dartmouth for the 2019 season. While there, she was awarded one of the three inaugural grants of the Scott Pioli & Family Fund for Women Football Coaches & Scouts, given to female football coaches and scouts to provide financial assistance.[8] She interned once more as a coach with the Washington Football Team in 2020, working once again under Rivera who joined Washington that season.[9][10] The following year, she was promoted to assistant running backs coach and became the first black woman in NFL history to coach full-time.[11][12]

Personal life

In addition to her career in sports, King has also worked as a police officer and flight attendant.[13]

References
  1. "Jennifer King". guilfordquakers.com. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  2. "Jennifer King '06: Tackling Stereotypes and Pushing Boundaries". Guilford College. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  3. "Jennifer King Tabbed to Lead Women's Basketball Program". Johnson & Wales University – Charlotte. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  4. "King recently led Johnson & Wales to USCAA national title". Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  5. "'You got this; you've been doing this': high hopes for new Washington assistant coach Jennifer King". The Athletic. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  6. "Rockingham alumni Jennifer King accepts coaching job with Arizona Hotshots". Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  7. "Jennifer King steps in to coach Panthers running backs at Fan Fest". Carolina Panthers. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  8. "King Receives Inaugural Grant for Women Football Coaches and Scouts". Dartmouth College Athletics. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  9. "Jennifer King, Rockingham County native with ties to Guilford and Greensboro colleges, draws interest from Washington Redskins". Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  10. "Jennifer King Hired as NFL Coaching Intern". Dartmouth College Athletics. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  11. "Washington's Jennifer King will be first Black woman to be full-time NFL coach". New York Post. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  12. "Washington Names Jennifer King As Assistant Running Backs Coach". WashingtonFootball.com. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  13. "Jennifer King has been a cop, a QB and a national champion. Next up: Redskins assistant coach". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.