The NFL Just Hired Its First-Ever Full-Time Female Coach
Kathryn Smith is literally changing the game.
Last year, Jen Welter made international news when she was named the NFL's first female assistant coaching intern. But the organization has just one-upped itself in an awesome way: They've hired Kathryn Smith as the first-ever *full-time* member of a coaching staff. She'll be the new special teams quality control coach for the Buffalo Bills.
Smith started as an intern for the New York Jets in 2003. For the last year, she's been an administrative assistant for the Bills. She came over to the Bills with coach Rex Ryan, who she worked with at the Jets in roles like player personal assistant and Ryan's assistant, according to NBC New York.
BREAKING: Kathryn Smith is the Bills new special teams quality control coach, the first full-time female NFL coach! pic.twitter.com/r2MkWX4pR3January 21, 2016
"Kathryn Smith has done an outstanding job in the seven years that she has worked with our staff," Ryan said in a statement. "She certainly deserves this promotion based on her knowledge and strong commitment, just to name a couple of her outstanding qualities, and I just know she's going to do a great job serving in the role of Quality Control-Special Teams."
Major emoji touchdown hands.
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Kate Storey is a contributing editor at Marie Claire and writer-at-large at Esquire magazine, where she covers culture and politics. Kate's writing has appeared in ELLE, Harper's BAZAAR, Town & Country, and Cosmopolitan, and her first book comes out in summer 2023.