Kathryn Smith has officially been announced as the NFL’s first full-time female couch. The Buffalo Bills announced that Smith was hired as the organization’s quality control-special teams coach late last night.
Shattering the glass ceiling. Congrats, Kathryn!
More on the Bills new special teams coach: https://t.co/UOXRXdtBWQ pic.twitter.com/K0fVtdcc8T
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 21, 2016
According to NPR, Smith spent last season as an administrative assistant to the Bills’ head coach, Rex Ryan. Prior to that, Smith spent 12 years working for the New York Jets, where Ryan had been coaching until 2015. Smith’s first gig was working as an intern for the Jets in 2003.
In a statement on the team’s website, Ryan announced that Smith proved herself and is ready for the next step.
“Kathryn Smith has done an outstanding job in the seven years that she has worked with our staff,” said Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan. “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.”
According to Ryan, the decision to promote Smith was partially inspired by the San Antonio Spur’s move to appoint a full-time female assistant coach in 2014. Her name is Becky Hammon and she was a former WNBA player. She will be the first full-time female coach in the NBA.
When questioned about the Spurs’ big move, ESPN reporter Howard Bryant said nothing but praise:
“Becky Hammon is a great coach. She’s a very knowledgeable player and I think the players are going to learn a lot from her. And I think they’re going to have a lot of different voices. And this opens the door for the next thing — if you get an assistant coach on the bench in the NBA, why not a head coach?”
In 2015 the NBA’s Sacramento Kings hired Nancy Lieberman, making her the second female coach in the sport. Looks like the NFL may be getting just as progressive.
