The Arizona Cardinals have hired Jen Welter as an assistant coaching intern for training camp and preseason, focusing primarily on inside linebackers. "Assistant coaching intern" doesn't sound like much, but for a league that is a 3D projection of the Male Id, this is pretty big.Welter has been around football for much of her life and has played professionally (linebacker) in the Women's Football Alliance, spending most of her career with the Dallas Diamonds. She also coached linebackers and special teams for the Texas Revolution, an Indoor Football League team owned by Hall-of-Famer Tim Brown.Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was recently asked about the prospects of a female coach in the NFL and, although nothing appears to be guaranteed past training camp, he is taking a merit-based approach.
The takes from meathead sports fans, and meathead sports talking heads, will be scorching—it's a virtual lock that some low-level personality gets roasted for saying or tweeting something incredibly stupid about the sanctity of the locker room or whatever—but for at least a few weeks this summer, Jen Welter is a professional coach in the NFL and you aren't."Coaching is nothing more than teaching. One thing I have learned from players is 'How are you going to make me better? If you can make me better, I don't care if you're the Green Hornet, I'll listen.'"
"I really believe she'll have a great opportunity with this internship through training camp to open some doors for her,'' Arians said.