WFT Hires First Latina Coordinator Of Football Programs In NFL History

The Washington Football Team announced a historic hire on Wednesday (April 7.)

Natalia Dorantes will join the franchise as its coordinator of football programs, becoming the first Latina and third woman to fill the role in NFL history, ESPN reports.

Dorantes, 26, will work closely with and coordinate schedules from various departments within the organization, which includes medical and scouting, as well as working closely with head coach Ron Rivera.

"I'm a very proud Latina, and that's like the first thing I said," Dorantes recalled in a virtual interview Wednesday on the Washington Football Team's official website. "I was like, 'As another Hispanic, I think it's great that you're in football because there's not many of us, so thank you for that and thank you for being on the forum. It shows a lot that you're just here supporting us."

She will join Callie Brownson, who works as the Cleveland Browns' chief of staff, and Sarah Hogan, who works as the Atlanta Falcons' coordinator of head coach operations, as the third woman to hold a coordinator role of football programs for an NFL franchise.

"This is kind of new ground for us because I've never had a 'chief of staff,'" Rivera said. "So I needed a person that's gonna be able to interact with coaches, with coordinators and may have to say, quite honestly, 'No, I don't think Coach wants that,' or 'No, Coach doesn't want that,' you know what I mean? Because the one thing I want her to understand is that she's going to have my voice, and I trust her."

Dorantes participated in the NFL's women's coaching forum in February and was part of Rivera's virtual roundtable, telling the Athletic that she initially reached out to the coach during the event in a Twitter direct message to attempt to get "on his radar."

The 26-year-old recently served as the Texas A&M football program's communications coordinator, joining the program in 2017 as a creative recruiting coordinator after serving as a social media content creator for the NFL during the same year.

Dorantes had also previously worked as a social media intern for the Arizona Cardinals in 2016 and 2016, and a social media student intern for Arizona State's athletics department from 2014-15.

During the past 16 months, Washington retired its controversial team name and also hired a Hispanic coach (Rivera), the NFL's first black president (Jason Wright), the NFL's first Black female assistant coach (Jennifer King) and the first woman to be part of the team's broadcast booth (Julie Donaldson, who also serves as the franchise's senior vice president of media.) WFT also hired a Black general manager, Martin Mayhew, during the offseason.

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content