Bills Hire Kathryn Smith As The NFL’s First Full-Time Female Coach

Even in 2016, professional sports are still dominated by men.That took a small step towards changing on Wednesday, when the Buffalo Bills made Kathryn Smith the NFL’s first full-time female coach.

Smith most recently served as the administrative assistant to head coach Rex Ryan; the pair had previously worked together in New York, where Smith worked for 12 seasons. Six of those were the years that Ryan spent at the Jets’ head coach.

Smith will now serve as the special teams quality control coach. “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.”

Smith is the third woman to recently coach a major men’s sports team. Jen Welter worked as the Arizona Cardinals inside linebackers coach during training camp and Becky Hammon serves as an assistant coach of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

“You can see the success some of these young ladies are having in the coaching profession, such as the young lady that is an assistant to Coach (Gregg) Popovich at the San Antonio Spurs,” Ryan said, referencing Hammon, the NBA’s first full-time female coach, “and realize how exciting this is for women like Kathryn Smith as well as the Bills organization.”

Image: Kathryn Smith announced as a Bills’ coach, via Twitter