The Arizona Cardinals have made history by hiring the first female coach in the National Football League. As Arizona Public Radio’s Aaron Granillo reports, Jen Welter enters the league with an impressive football résumé.
This is not the first time Welter’s broken down gender walls on the playing field. In 2014, she became the first female to play running back in a professional men’s football league. On Monday, the Cardinals announced she’ll be working with the team as an intern coach during training camp and preseason. Kent Somers covers the Cardinals for the Arizona Republic. He tells NPR head coach Bruce Arians had no problem putting Welter on his staff.
“Bruce Arians said she deserves a chance. She’s paid her dues," Somers says. "She came out to visit the team during their offseason practices and summer practices and he met with her and was really impressed.”
Welter already his experience coaching as an assistant in the men’s Indoor Football League. Off the field, she’s earned a doctorate in psychology and a master’s degree in sports psychology.
