From NC roots, female coach broke barriers as first woman to become full-time NFL assistant
EDITOR’S NOTE: In honor of Black History Month, The Charlotte Observer is highlighting the lives and accomplishments of nine people whose contributions might not be as well known as others, local “hidden figures” as it were.
Before she made NFL history, Jennifer King attended Rockingham County High in Wentworth and was a standout two-sport athlete at Guilford College in Greensboro. King played basketball and softball there before coaching basketball at Greensboro College and Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte.
After spending more than a decade in the Women’s Football Alliance, mostly with the Charlotte Phoenix, King became a pioneer within the NFL coaching ranks.
She started her football coaching career as an intern in 2018 with the Carolina Panthers before heading to the Alliance of American Football (AAF) for a season with the Arizona Hotshots.
When the spring league folded in 2019, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera rehired King as an intern. When Rivera left the Panthers for Washington in 2020, he brought King with him as an intern and eventually promoted her to assistant running backs coach in 2021.
With that move, King became the first Black woman to work in a full-time assistant coaching position for an NFL franchise.
In 2022, King became the first woman to coach in the East-West Shrine Bowl, which is celebrating its 100th year in 2025.
After Washington fired Rivera during the 2023 season, King was hired by Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus in 2024 as an offensive assistant, with a primary focus on running backs. The 40-year-old is a native of Eden.
Looking back on the 2018 season with the Panthers, veteran receiver Torrey Smith had this to say to the Observer last year about King: “She knows this game. She’s going to challenge you. And she’s going to help you be better.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "From NC roots, female coach broke barriers as first woman to become full-time NFL assistant."
