On Sunday, Autumn Lockwood will make history. As an assistant coach for the Eagles, she will become the first Black woman to coach in a Super Bowl.
This edition of the NFL’s biggest game is shaping up to be especially historic. Super Bowl LVII is the first with two Black starting quarterbacks: Philly’s Jalen Hurts and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.
Lockwood will be the fourth woman overall to coach for the Lombardi Trophy. She joined the Eagles last summer, bringing a solid background in sports performance coaching.
She most recently spent a season as coordinator of sports performance at the University of Houston, per her LinkedIn, and worked as a strength and conditioning assistant University of Nevada Las Vegas. While earning a master’s degree in sports management from East Tennessee State University, she worked with both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
What else should you know about the trailblazing 29-year-old? Here’s a look at how Lockwood arrived at this inflection point.
Lockwood was born in Delco
The Eagles are somewhat of a homecoming for Lockwood. Though she grew up in West Virginia, she was born in Chester, Delaware County, right outside of Philly..
She’s following in her father’s footsteps
Football is in Lockwood’s blood. Her father, David Lockwood, is the safeties coach at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Previously, he was a Big Ten defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota and has held defensive coach positions at the University of Arizona, UNLV, Kentucky, and his alma mater West Virginia University.
As a player, Lockwood was a three-year starter at cornerback for the Mountaineers, where he played in three bowl games, including the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl in 1988.
She was a star collegiate athlete at Arizona
While she’s been all in on what she called the “incredible opportunity” with the Eagles and the NFL, Lockwood’s first love as an athlete was the other football game — soccer.
She lettered on the women’s soccer team at Arizona, where she also earned a bachelor’s in criminal justice in 2015. Her alma mater recently expressed their excitement for her upcoming achievement.
“@ArizonaSoccer letter winner Autumn Lockwood, a Sports Performance Coach with the Eagles, will become the first Black woman to 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 coach in the Super Bowl,” the AZ Athletics Department posted.
She interned with the Atlanta Falcons
The Eagles aren’t Lockwood’s first dip into the NFL. In 2019, she was selected for a four-week internship with the Atlanta Falcons Organization as part of the Bill Walsh Coaching Fellowship.
With the Falcons, she worked with the strength and conditioning department and was a coach and trainer during OTAs (Organized Team Activities).
She has some company in the league, but not a lot
Lockwood is currently one of four women who are full-time assistant coaches in the NFL. The others are Callie Brownson, chief of staff of the Cleveland Browns; Jennifer King, assistant running backs coach of the Washington Commanders, and Sophia Lewin, offensive assistant coach for the Buffalo Bills.
