Jennifer King (born August 6, 1984) is an American football coach who is an offensive assistant for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). She is best known for being the first black woman to be a full-time NFL coach upon being named assistant running backs coach for the Washington Commanders in 2021. A former two-sport athlete at Guilford College, King has also coached women's college basketball and for the NFL's Carolina Panthers.
_(cropped_2).jpg) King in 2021 | |
| Chicago Bears | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Offensive assistant (running backs) |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | August 6, 1984 Eden, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Rockingham County (Wentworth, North Carolina) |
| College: |
|
| Career history | |
| As a player: | |
| |
| As a coach: | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
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] She played in the Women's Football Alliance (WFA) as 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. She later attended Liberty University in the mid-2010s and graduated with a Master of Science degree in sports management.[3]
Coaching career
Basketball
| Playing career | |
|---|---|
| Basketball | |
| 2002–2006 | Guilford |
| Softball | |
| 2002–2006 | Guilford |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2006–2016 | Greensboro (assistant) |
| 2016–2018 | Johnson & Wales |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 37–10 (.787) (college) |
| Tournaments | 3–0 (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.[4][5]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson & Wales Wildcats (Eastern Metro Athletic Conference) (2016–2018) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | Johnson & Wales | 15–6 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 2017–18 | Johnson & Wales | 22–4 | USCAA Division II National Champion | ||||||
| Johnson & Wales: | 37–10 (.787) | 2–0 (1.000) | |||||||
| Total: | 37–10 (.787) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational 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.[6] 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).[7] 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.[8]
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.[9] She interned once more as a coach with the Washington Football Team in 2020, working once again under Rivera who joined Washington that season.[10][11] She was promoted to assistant running backs coach the following year, making her the first black woman to become a full-time coach in NFL history.[12][13] King served as the running backs coach for the West team in the 2022 East–West Shrine Bowl.[14] She was hired by the Chicago Bears as an offensive assistant in 2024, focusing on running backs.[15]
Personal life
King has also worked as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines and as a police officer in High Point, North Carolina.[16][17][18]
References
External links
