Tampa Bay becomes first NFL team with two women on full-time coaching staff

Back in 2015, Jen Welter made NFL history as the first woman to join a coaching staff, and served as an assistant linebackers coach during a six-week internship for Bruce Arians’ Cardinals squad.

Very few women have earned full-time coaching gigs with NFL franchises since Welter’s debut, but Arians is hoping that will change in the coming years. Now in Tampa Bay, Arians’ new club just became the first organization with two women on the full-time coaching staff.

We've added Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust as full-time assistant coaches.

The Buccaneers are now the first NFL team with two female coaches on staff.

📰 » https://t.co/mVkzSWa96N pic.twitter.com/QOUSyxPKbP

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) March 20, 2019

Maral Javadifar will serve as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Buccaneers.

Locust, an assistant defensive line coach, is one of the very first people to make the jump from the AAF to the NFL. Locust worked as the defensive line coach for the Birmingham Iron, and previously interned with the Baltimore Ravens.

Assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust discusses her journey to the NFL in this edition of Bucs Beat, presented by @AdventHealth. pic.twitter.com/LJykbJTiOU

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) March 22, 2019

According to The Arizona Republic’s Katherine Fitzgerald, Arians was persuaded by his wife to offer full-time positions instead of internships.

 

Chris Arians, BA’s wife, added:
“He was talking one time about an internship, &I said, ‘Aw, babe. C’mon. We don’t need more internships.’ Like, ‘Oh, yeah, cmon little lady, hang with us for a year, and then we’re gonna let you go.’ No! Find someone qualified to coach &hire them.”

— katherine fitzgerald (@kfitz134) March 23, 2019

Arians summed up the hiring to ESPN’s Jenna Laine on Tuesday:

“The fact that their gender’s different — who gives a [expletive]?”