Yesterday the Buffalo Bills made history.
The team announced that Kathryn Smith was promoted to the role of the organization’s quality control-special teams coach, becoming the FIRST woman to hold the title of full time coach in the NFL. Last season she served as the administrative assistant to the head coach, Rex Ryan, and prior to that she spent 12 years with the New York Jets, also alongside coach Ryan.
Smith began her NFL journey in 2003 as a Jets game-day special events intern.
In a statement posted to the team’s website, Ryan stated “Kathryn Smith has done an outstanding job in the seven years that she has worked with our staff. 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.”
He added that his decision to hire Smith was inspired by the San Antonio Spurs hiring of Becky Hammon in 2014, who became the first full-time female assistant coach in the NBA.
