Jada Gipson is poised to make history.
The 2018 Mexia High School graduate could become the first female graduate assistant football coach in the history of the FBS Division I ranks.
Actually, Gipson is already doing the job of a graduate assistant at Texas State University in San Marcos, where she is a junior. But because she is an undergraduate, she is considered a student assistant.
“There’s no female graduate assistant right now in college football Division I FBS,” Gipson said. “Next year, Texas State wants to bring me on as a graduate assistant. If none are hired in the upcoming year, I’ll be the first.”
Gipson is in her second year working with the inside linebackers at Texas State. She began her college career as an athletic trainer and moved into equipment management before asking former linebackers coach Archie McDaniel if she could help with the linebackers in the spring of 2020.
Four practices into her tenure, everything was shut down due to COVID-19, and the meetings had to be done virtually. This year, she was present for all 15 Texas State spring practices and the team’s end-of-spring scrimmage.
Gipson said in her role with the team she sits in on all the defensive staff meetings, all the linebacker position meetings, all the special teams meetings and all general team meetings. She also spends time watching film.
“I break down practices,” she said. “I do that for our games, when we play our games. I break down our opponent to give us a better look at what they do to help us with the game plan.”
Gipson said there is no discussion about the fact she is a female. The players and coaches respect her as one of their peers.
“They looked at me just like another coach,” Gipson said. “I think everyone here at Texas State has done that and welcomed me with open arms. They listen to everything I say and take my coaching pretty well.”
Gipson recalled the first time she stepped foot on the field as a student coach for the Bobcats.
“It felt great because I didn’t think it was possible coming into college, getting out there doing something I love to do and working with a great group of guys,” she said.
Jada grew up around football and wanted to play in a pee wee league in Groesbeck when she was a youngster. But she missed the signup deadline and had to watch. So, she focused on helping her brother Jaylen, who is a year older, improve as a player.
She has studied the game over the years to help Jaylen be the best player possible. He developed into a standout quarterback at Mexia High School and went on to play at Texas State. He recently entered the transfer portal and hopes to get playing time at another college next year.
Jada spoke about the time she spent practicing with Jaylen when they were children. He began as a running back, so she would play the role of quarterback.
“We’d go outside and I would usually hand off the ball to him or throw it to him to help him practice when we were younger,” she said. “Growing up, I could throw the ball better than him. To this day, I still can throw better than him. He can throw farther than me, but I’ve got an accurate pass.”
Jada got the chance to show off her arm when she played quarterback for a women’s semi-professional team in New Braunfels during her freshman year of college. She said the team played four games and then the season was cut short because many players had to quit due to their job commitments.
“It was a cool experience for me,” Jada said. “It was cool until I got hit for the first time. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’d rather stick to coaching.’”
Out of her desire to help her brother, Jada became a student of the game. She said at first Jaylen might have been skeptical of his younger sister’s instructions. But over time, he appreciated that she is very knowledgable about football.
“I studied quarterback play because I wanted Jaylen to be the best that he could be,” Jada said. “I was going to do whatever I had to do to make sure of it. I studied ways for him to fix his throwing mechanics. To this day, we still work on it. I looked at quarterback drills. I tried to figure out, how could this help him in what he needs to do? And I tried, with Mexia’s offense at the time, to look at it schematically and help him study it, make sure he knew the ins and outs of it so he can just play the game fast.”
Until she got to Texas State, all Jada’s emphasis was on offense. Helping coach the inside linebackers for the Bobcats has given her perspective from the defensive side of the ball. She has used that to help her brother with his quarterback play.
“I think what’s helped him now that I’m on the defensive side, I get that perspective from the defense to give him pointers on how to read a defense,” she said. “Defensively, all you’re trying to do is show something different than what you’re actually doing.”
Jada is intent on making a career out of coaching. In February, she was one of 40 participants in the fifth annual Women’s Careers in Football Forum. It was a chance to attend panel discussions and network with football professionals.
The event featured three women owners of NFL teams, including Detroit Lions owner and chairman Sheila Ford Hamp. The seven NFL head coaches who spoke included Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots and Bruce Arians of the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Among the seven general managers who spoke were Nick Caserio of the Houston Texans and the Buccaneers’ Jason Licht.
Possibly as a result of her participation in the forum, Jada was offered a Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship with the Cleveland Browns. She is in her third week working with Browns defensive backs coach Jeff Howard and assistant defensive backs coach Brandon Lynch. In addition to her duties with Texas State during the summer portion of football, she has virtual meetings with the Browns’ coaches every day from noon until 2 p.m.
“Everything is virtual now because of COVID,” Jada said. “Hopefully, later on, I can go up to Cleveland, Ohio, and be with the team. Right now, I sit in on every position meeting soaking up information, learning and asking questions. i sit in on all their special teams and team meetings.”
As one of the few in her field, Jada sees herself as a role model for girls who might want to become football coaches. Her role models are the females who coach in the NFL. There were eight this past season, including four who were assistant coaches for specific positions on the football field. She networked with them during the forum.
“Those are some of my closest friends. I communicate with them,” she said. “I was asking questions on how their journey went. When I was coming up, knowing that I wanted to coach, I looked at all the other female coaches. So, for other young women to ask me this question will be huge, because I know that’s the way I did earlier in my career.”
Being a trailblazing female football coach isn’t something on which Jada dwells. She envisions a day when female football coaches won’t be such an anomaly.
“I really don’t think about it,” she said. “It’s just something that I do. Soon enough there will be a lot of women in football where it won’t be that big of a deal. I’m glad to be a part of it.”
