Tag: Jennifer King

Washington assistant RBs coach Jennifer King shares part of her journey, work with USAA

Washington Wire spoke with WFT assistant running backs coach Jennifer King, as she shares part of her inspiring journey and her partnership with USAA as the NFL honors Salute to Service all November.

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November is a special month around the NFL. The NFL honors all military personnel, veterans, and their families with Salute to Service throughout the month. Each team nominates one member of the organization for the Salute-to-Service award, which will be announced at the NFL Honors show in February.

Head coach Ron Rivera is Washington’s nominee for the award.

With Veteran’s Day on Thursday, USAA recently released a video featuring Washington assistant running backs coach Jennifer King and Tampa Bay assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and two women from the United States military — Yencris Baez and Vanessa Thomas.

Check it out.

Washington Wire recently had the opportunity to speak with Coach King about her inspiring journey, and she discussed the filming of that video for the USAA.

“That was an awesome day,” King said. “Being with Coach Locust and spending the day with Yencris and Vanessa and hearing their stories was amazing.”

King believes her story and story of Locust, Baez, and Thomas can inspire the next generation of girls to become successful at anything they choose.

King has quite the story herself.

Not only did she become the first-ever Black woman to become a full-time NFL coach, but King also had a long list of accomplishments before coming to Washington. Before becoming a full-time NFL coach, King spent two years as a head basketball coach at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In King’s first season, her team finished with a record of 15-6. In her second season as coach, she led Johnson & Wales to a 22-4 record. It was during that time, she met Rivera.

“Our facilities were actually next door to theirs,” King said of Rivera and the Panthers. A mutual acquaintance introduced King and Rivera, and it wasn’t long after she was an intern with the Panthers. Rivera was so impressed with King; he brought her back again in 2019 as an intern with the running backs.

When Rivera took over as Washington’s coach in 2020, he brought King with him.

King described what it was like working with Rivera.

“Coach Rivera is amazing,” King said.

Believe it or not, growing up in Reidsville, North Carolina, King was a fan of the Washington Football Team as a child.

“I actually grew up a Washington fan,” King said. “But when I was a kid, the Panthers came to North Carolina, and I kind of gravitated toward them.”

King offered plenty of hope for Washington fans in the second half of the season.

“We went on a run last year and made the playoffs,” King said. “We feel good about our team this year and believe we can go on another run in the final nine games. We have the talent.”

King noted how Rivera is a good second-half coach.

If you get the chance, please watch the video from USAA. It features the story of four inspirational and talented women, just in time for Veteran’s Day.

J.D. McKissic credits Jennifer King with a lot of his success in 2020 season

J.D. McKissic had a career year with Washington in 2020, and he credits a lot of that success to having someone like Jennifer King pushing him forward.

When looking at players on the Washington Football Team roster, all eyes go towards TE Logan Thomas when the subject of cheap acquisitions who played a big role comes up. However, the production that we saw from RB J.D. McKissic this past season deserves just as much recognition.

McKissic, who signed a two-year, $3.27 million contract with Washington last offseason, became an integral part of the offense, setting a career-high in both catches (80) and receiving yards (589), which was second among running backs in the NFL for the 2020 season. The person who he credits a lot of that success to also has her name in the news right now — newly promoted assistant running backs coach Jennifer King.

“I always thought she was already the assistant coach,” McKissic said, via The Washington Post. “She played a pretty good role in my success. … She helped me take that next step. It was just the little things like giving me a pregame workout, things that she did with [Christian] McCaffrey in the past in Carolina. She was able to bring that to Washington and push me in those types of ways.”

This past week, King became the first female Black full-time coach in the NFL, continuing the streak of progressiveness we’ve seen under Ron Rivera in Washington this past year. In her first year as an offensive assistant in Washington, players remarked that she more than held her own, and was always in the middle of the action.

“Every time I said I was going to do something, she was out there,” McKissic said. “She would be out there 15 minutes early, and we’d push each other like: ‘Hey, I’m out here. Where you at?’ Whenever I would be like, ‘Coach King, I need you,’ there was never a holdup. It was like, ‘Let’s get it.’ That’s the type of stuff players need.”

Because of that help from King, as well as an offensive gameplan that uniquely fit McKissic’s skills, he was able to put together a career year and cement his place as one of the primary weapons on the offense. We will see what he does in year two with Washington, but don’t be shocked to see him get a second contract in D.C. and become a steady part of this team going forward.

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Washington Football Team to make Jennifer King fulltime assistant coach

Jennifer King will become the first Black woman making to be a full-time coach in the NFL.

The Washington Football team is going to name Jennifer King as a fulltime offensive assistant coach. King will become the first full-time African-American female coach in NFL history.

King spent time with the Carolina Panthers before becoming a coaching intern with the WFT for the 2020 season. She worked  with running backs coach Randy Jordan with Washington.

King worked as an intern for two years under current WFT coach Ron Rivera when he was in Carolina, in 2018 and ’19. She also was an assistant receivers coach for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football.

She played for three professional women’s football teams from 2006-19.

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Jennifer King to be made full-time offensive assistant for Washington

Jennifer King is being promoted to a full-time offensive assistant coach in Washington after spending 2020 as a coaching intern.

The Washington Football Team is making former coaching intern Jennifer King a full-time offensive assistant for the 2021 season, which makes her one of the higher-ranking female coaches in the NFL.

King spent the 2020 season as her first in the NFL, having previously spent time at Dartmouth College, and serving time as an intern with the Carolina Panthers.

Last season, King spent a lot of her time helping running backs coach Randy Johnson, and they had a big task on their hands, getting the most out of both J.D. McKissic and Peyton Barber while also working to transition rookie Antonio Gibson into the league after splitting time at RB and WR in college.

Obviously, Rivera was impressed with her work, and she will stay with the team going forward.

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Historic day for women in NFL via Washington-Cleveland game

Sunday marks the first NFL game with a woman coach on each sideline and a female official

The Washington Football Team game against the Cleveland Browns has special significance Sunday for women and the NFL.

The contest marks the first time in league history a game features a female coach on both sidelines and a female official on the field.

Callie Brownson is the chief of staff for Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and Jennifer King is in her first season on Ron Rivera’s coaching staff in Washington. Sarah Thomas became the league’s first female official in 2015, has worked in the postseason, and is now making more history.

Washington coach Ron Rivera acknowledged the moment with a tweet Sunday.

A former college basketball coach, King first connected with Washington coach Ron Rivera when both were in North Carolina. She joined Rivera’s staff as an intern in 2018 with the Panthers, and when he took the job in Washington earlier this year, King came with him as an offensive assistant and full-year coaching intern — the first Black woman in league history.

Brownson was an all-around player in the Women’s Football Alliance before she was bitten by the coaching bug. She started at the high school level, wound up at Dartmouth and was hired by Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott, who gave her a full season internship in 2019.

Watch Jennifer King’s interview after joining Redskins

The new Redskins coach had an interview with the team’s site.

The Washington Redskins brought on Jennifer King recently as a member of the coaching staff.

King, the first full-time African American female coach, will assist running backs coach Randy Jordan while working with names like Derrius Guice and Bryce Love, if not Adrian Peterson and new arrivals, either via free agency or the draft.

Previously an understudy of Ron Rivera in Carolina, King spent last year with Dartmouth College.and had also spent some time in the now-defunct AAF.

“I am excited to be a part of this journey and I think it is going to be great things ahead,” King said in the above interview with the team’s official site.

King has worked with superstars like Christian McCaffrey in the past and aspires to be a coordinator, so Redskins fans should be excited about the running back room, to say the least.

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Redskins officially hire Jennifer King as offensive coaching intern

The Redskins have officially made Jennifer King the first full-time African-American female coach in the NFL.

The Washington Redskins have officially hired Jennifer King as a coaching intern, set to work with the offensive staff through the offseason and into the fall.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, King will specifically assist Randy Jordan, the RBs coach, and work with the likes of Derrius Guice, Adrian Peterson, and Bryce Love.

The Washington Redskins are making history in the NFL with the hiring of King. She worked as a coaching intern under Ron Rivera in 2017 with the Carolina Panthers and is now the first full-time African American female coach in the league and the fourth woman overall.

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Report: Redskins to hire first black female assistant coach in NFL history

King spent time with Ron Rivera as a coaching intern with the Panthers in 2017, and she could find a way onto the Redskins staff in 2020.

The Washington Redskins could be making history in the NFL, as a report has surfaced that they plan to hire Jennifer King to the coaching staff. King, who worked as a coaching intern under Ron Rivera in 2017 with the Carolina Panthers, would be the first full-time African American female coach in the league, and the fourth woman overall.

According to The Athletic‘s Rhiannon Walker, two sources have said that King will be joining the Redskins coaching staff this year after spending 2019 as an offensive assistant with Dartmouth College.

King’s first chance to coach at the NFL level came during the 2017 Pro Bowl, when Rivera, the Carolina Panthers coach, met her and brought her on as a coaching intern from rookie minicamp in May to preseason games in August.

Hines Ward, head of football development for in the Alliance of American Football, brought her to the Arizona Hotshots as the assistant wide receivers coach. She was the third female coach in the league and the only one on the offense.

It’s unclear what position King would coach in Washington, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see her assume the role of an offensive assistant under Scott Turner’s lead.

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