Bills Hire Coach: The Bills made history with little fanfare last night announcing in a press release that they have hired Kathryn Smith as the new Quality Control Special Teams coach replacing Michael Hamlin who was released earlier in the month. She becomes the first full-time NFL female coach. The Cardinals had a female part time linebackers coach during training camp last year. Rex Ryan consulted with Bruce Arians before the hire and said in a release, "I consulted with Bruce Arians on this since he was really the first NFL head coach to make this kind of move when he hired a female linebackers coach through the summer. 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, and realize how exciting this is for women like Kathryn Smith as well as the Bills organization.” Smith has worked for Ryan the past seven years, six with the Jets and last year with the Bills. She has been his Administrative Assistant the past two years. She began her NFL career with the Jets in 2003 as a gameday/special events intern. She stayed with the Jets for 12 years becoming a college scout intern in 2005 and a player personnel assistant in 2007.

Statement On Historic Hiring: Rex Ryan released a statement on this historic hiring that said, "Kathryn Smith has done an outstanding job in the seven years that she has worked with our staff. 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. Kathryn has been working in a football administrative role and assisted the assistant coaches for years. She has proven that she’s ready for the next step, so I’m excited and proud for her with this opportunity. She will work with Danny Crossman and Eric Smith involving a number of responsibilities.”Front Office Page.