From base in Raleigh, NFL's first female African-American coach prepares for her team
Posted March 16, 2020 7:04 p.m. EDT
Updated March 16, 2020 7:40 p.m. EDT
Jennifer King was supposed to be in the Washington, DC, area right now, making history and preparing for her first full season as an NFL coach.
"I had a lot of stuff planned over the next few weeks and obviously most of it has been canceled, " King said.
Recently, the Reidsville, N.C., native was hired as a full-time offensive coaching intern by Ron Rivera and the Washington Redskins, making her the first African-American woman to land such a position in the NFL. But the widespread outbreak of the coronavirus has changed a lot in the sports world, including NFL coaches not being able to use their team's facilities to work out of.
"It's been crazy to see the implications of everything," King said. "We've had Major League (Baseball) shut down, and now it's affecting us too. Obviously we're working from home for a little bit."
So while she can't be in the Redskins' facility, she's working tirelessly to get the team ready for the draft, free-agency and helping to install plays for the offense from her base in Raleigh. She's staying with her sister and getting a chance to catch up with family, while preparing for the 2020 season. But she doesn't know when she'll have a chance to return to work.
"Kind of like everyone else, we're in a holding pattern just to see how big this thing gets and where it goes."
This isn't King's first go-round in the NFL. She was a part-time coaching intern the past two summers for the Carolina Panthers. King had the opportunity to be the wide receivers coach for the Arizona Hotshots in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football and then spent last season on the offensive staff for Dartmouth College.
She's a former football player herself, playing in a women's league and winning multiple national championships. King made such an impression on Rivera that he offered her a full-time position. Now she's a part of the first wave of female coaches entering the National Football League, and Coach King wants to show she can coach as good as any man.
"This is no different for me to come in, put the work in and do a good job and not only show that I belong there, but that women can do this job at a high level and coach in the NFL as well."
Through this coronavirus crisis, she's keeping a positive outlook. She gets to prepare for her first full-time NFL season while hanging out with the people she loves and said with a big smile, "It's cool that I could come to North Carolina and chill out with my family."
