Ryan shared the story on Friday, two days after promoting Smith to his staff. Smith takes over as the Bills special teams quality control coach, becoming the NFL’s first full-time female assistant coach.
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Kathryn Smith, after spending over 10 years working for the New York Jets, has become the first full-time female coach in the league.
“I feel great about it. I truly believe she is going do a tremendous job”, stated Ryan. Prior to the 2015 season, Ryan went as far to guarantee a playoff spot for the Bills, a team that has missed the postseason for a record 15 consecutive years.
2 On Your Side’s Stu Boyar and Heather Prusak will have more on the bills coaching changes tonight on Channel 2 News First at 5. “That was huge. She really broke down a lot of doors there”. If I had to watch my team blow chance after chance and miss yet another postseason, why should anyone else-let alone people I have to see every day-have the right to be happy? “I have been around her for seven years professionally, actually met her at an Eric Mangini camp many years before that”.
“You just have to be able to relate to guys and relate to players”, he said.
“She certainly deserves this promotion based on her knowledge and strong commitment”, said head coach Rex Ryan in a statement.
“It’s not surprising she has accomplished what she has in her career”, said Ron Linfonte, St. John’s director of sports medicine.
Nothing gets Rex Ryan fired up quite like criticism, and apparently his twin brother Rob Ryan isn’t much different. “So from that standpoint it made sense knowing I’ve worked with Rex directly and indirectly for a number of years”. And I am like no it wasn’t a sack. I never sensed that players treated me any differently than my male counterparts. And I came back in and I am like oh my goodness, and it was.
She’s worked incredibly hard to get to this point, a kid who literally started from the bottom as an intern running errands, who now has the respect of an National Football League coaching staff and enough trust to help breakdown film. After jettisoning swagger-y blowhard Rex Ryan in the offseason, Gang Green was under new management in the form of Todd Bowles, a coach cut from the same cloth as the no-nonsense Coughlin.
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“I think until we tackle getting an equitable amount of women’s coaches coaching women’s teams, that’s the starting point as far as I’m concerned…to me that’s the biggest challenge”, she added.
