On Sunday, Eagles associate performance coach Autumn Lockwood became the first Black woman to win a Super Bowl as a coach.
Lockwood was hired in 2022 and just finished her third season with the Birds. She started her coaching career in 2019 as a strength and conditioning coaching intern with the Atlanta Falcons during organized team activities. She then served as an assistant director of basketball sports performance at East Tennessee State until February 2021, when Lockwood started as a coordinator of sports performance for the women’s soccer, women’s basketball, and softball teams.
“I always say [defensive end] Brandon Graham leads the league in smiles,” former Eagles vice president of player performance Ted Rath told The Inquirer in 2023. “I think [he’s] been dethroned by Autumn. Her positive attitude is infectious. She comes to work with literally the best attitude I’ve ever been around.”
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Lockwood, who was born in Chester, joined the small group of women who have coached in a Super Bowl when the Eagles played in Super Bowl LVII — and became the first Black woman to do so. As a Super Bowl winner, she is now in an even smaller group. Maral Javadifar and Temple alumna Lori Locust were the first two women to win, earning rings in Super Bowl LV as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ assistant strength and conditioning coach and assistant defensive line coach, respectively. Javadifar is now the Bucs’ director of rehabilitation, and Locust is now a defensive quality control coach with the Tennessee Titans.
Lockwood comes from a coaching family — her father, David Lockwood, played and coached at West Virginia and currently coaches safeties at Appalachian State. She’s part of the largest-ever group of female coaches in the NFL, as one of 12 women working in full-time coaching roles during the 2024 season, an increase from 10 in the 2023 season.