The Arizona Cardinals have hired Jen Welter as an assistant coaching intern for their upcoming training camp and the pre-season, making her the first female coach of any kind in NFL history.

ESPN reports the 37-year-old Welter will work with linebackers as part of her duties, joining fellow defensive coaches Bob Sanders, Larry Foote and Levon Kirkland.

Welter's new job is hardly her first football related accomplishment. Earlier this year, she became the first female coach in a men's professional football league when she was hired by the Texas Revolution of the Indoor Football League. And roughly a year before that, she became the first female to play a non-kicking position in a men's professional football league when she played running back and special teams for the Revolution.

Welter played professional football for more than 14 years as a linebacker, mostly with the Dallas Diamonds of the Women's Football Alliance, helping lead them to four championships.

"Someone asked me yesterday, 'When are we going to have female coaches?'" said Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians. "The minute they can prove they can make a player better, they'll be hired."

Arians later shared his philosophy that coaching is entirely about teaching, adding that he's convinced a player will open up to anyone as a coach if that player feels that person can make improve him.

"I really believe she'll have a great opportunity with this internship through training camp to open some doors for her,'' Arians said.

Welter's hiring is the second gender barrier to be broken in the NFL this year. The league announced in April that Sarah Thomas would be the first woman to be a full-time NFL official.

Additionally, the NBA's San Antonio Spurs hired Becky Hammon as an assistant coach last summer, and she recently coached the team's summer league squad to the Las Vegas summer League title.

The news of a woman ascending up the NFL coaching ranks comes as Commissioner Roger Goodell still struggles to incorporate a more substantive league-wide domestic abuse policy in the wake of scandals involving such players as Ray Rice and Ray McDonald.