Broncos hire Emily Zaler for full-time role, first female coach in team history
Another NFL team is bringing in a female full-time coach.
The Denver Broncos announced Saturday that Emily Zaler, one of the team's Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching fellows, would be retained full-time going into the season, a first in Broncos history. Zaler will continue to work on the strength and conditioning staff.
“We're going to keep her around throughout the season,” Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said in the announcement. “She did a really nice job here. She's knowledgeable, very passionate about strength and conditioning aspect. We're happy to have her, and we're going to keep her on for the entire season.”
Before her time with the Broncos, Zaler worked as a seasonal assistant with the New York Knicks this season until the coronavirus pandemic put the entire league on pause. With the Broncos, Zaler has reportedly been conducting workouts and warm-up sessions at the start of practices.
“Over the last decade, I've been told more times than I can count that I would never have the opportunity to work in the NFL or the NBA because I'm a woman, and there are a handful of women who have led the way for me that have had the opportunity and shown me that it is possible,” Zaler said in August. “I hope to do the same for the next generation of female strength and conditioning coaches who want to work in an elite male sport.”
Zaler joins a group of female full-time coaches in the league that includes San Francisco 49ers offensive assistant Katie Sowers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistants Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust. Even more women could be hired in the near future.
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