Jump to content

Jets to hire first woman coach who will work with defensive backs


joewilly12

Recommended Posts

Jets to hire first woman coach who will work with defensive backs

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
 
Collette Smith, 44, will serve as a preseason intern who will work this summer with the defensive backs during training camp, sources said Thursday.

Collette Smith, 44, will serve as a preseason intern who will work this summer with the defensive backs during training camp, sources said Thursday.

  (PROVIDED)

Gang Green is breaking new ground.

The New York Jets plan to hire its first woman coach, a preseason intern who will work this summer with the defensive backs during training camp, sources said Thursday.

Collette Smith, 44, is currently a coach and marketing executive with the New York Sharks, a member of the Independent Women's Football League.

The hard-hitting Smith played for the Sharks three years before being sidelined by a knee injury.

“I’m over the top. I’m humbled and I’m proud,” said the Queens native, who is a lifelong Jets fan. “This could have happened with any NFL team. But it just so happened that it was with my beloved New York Jets. This is bigger because of that.”

Smith turned her practice field access last year into a chance to shadow the Jets’ defensive backfield. There, she met head coach Todd Bowles, who could immediately tell she was serious about the game.

Smith is currently a coach with the New York Sharks.

Smith is currently a coach with the New York Sharks.

  (TWITTER)

“He called over all the defensive backs,” Smith said. “He told them who I was and that I’d be hanging around from time to time. Everybody was polite and respectful.”

Smith will follow in the footsteps of Jen Welter, the first woman to hold a coaching position in the NFL.

In 2015, Welter was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as a preseason intern by that team’s head coach Bruce Arians, Bowles’ mentor.

Bowles played for Arians in college at Temple University, and was his defensive coordinator in Arizona.

A representative for the Jets declined to comment on the move.

She played for the Sharks for three years.

She played for the Sharks for three years.

  (TWITTER)

Former Sharks head coach Richard Harrigan made Smith one of his assistants after she hurt her knee.

“She’s a phenomenal person,” Harrigan said. “She wears her heart on her sleeve.”

Smith said she knows her magical NFL ride may be over before the season even starts. But she’s ready to take the ball and run with it as far as she can go.

“We as women carry a lot on our shoulders,” Smith said. “Right now, it happens to be football for me.

“This is a way for me to help empower women. Don’t dream small, play big and go for it.

“One day a woman will come to a football team, and it won’t be a big story. It’ll just be football. When that day comes I’ll be more honored and even more proud.”

WITH MANISH MEHTA

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 153
  • Created
  • Last Reply
12 minutes ago, joewilly12 said:

Only the Jets...............

oops

Cardinals Add First Female Coach

http://www.azcardinals.com/news-and-events/article-2/Cardinals-Add-First-Female-Coach/aa370599-8d8e-4e73-85d3-fc77515bf40a

Kathryn Smith hired by Bills as NFL's first female full-time coach

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/14614558/kathryn-smith-hired-buffalo-bills-nfl-first-full-female-assistant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, C Mart said:

oops my bad........but still the Jets seem to try and do it differently than almost everyone else in the NFL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, joewilly12 said:

oops my bad........but still the Jets seem to try and do it differently than almost everyone else in the NFL

this regime wasn't around for any of the previously mentioned moves..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Integrity28 said:

"they are taking everything from us"

Something tells my gut this is nothing but some weird PR disaster just waiting to happen somewhere down the line, ESPECIALLY if this a Kotitian season where the media gets bored and looks to create sideshow drama to meet their quota.

 

Jets beat writers hard at work:

mr-burns-monkeys-typewriters1.jpg 

 

 

*******EDIT********

Only a summer hire. No extra sideline fodder for the season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...