We are beginning African American History Month with an important article asking: where are all the black head coaches? Specifically, where are they in the NFL?
If you read this title and you say, why does color matter (or something similar)? Count yourself lucky if you can go through life without thinking about race – a luxury that people in the BIPOC community do not have.
If you read this title and think maybe it’s just coincidence or the most qualified people are in those positions, I would encourage you to ponder a few things. Why do so many coaches come from a long line of coaches in the game, both biologically and through coaching “trees”? Could that systematically keep certain groups from the opportunity?
Another thought: the league has been majority black for over 40 years, yet there have only been 27 black head coaches since the NFL’s conception. That is 27 out of roughly 518 coaches in the league since 1920. A measly 5.2%. A number so low is indicative of a systematic problem – a cultural issue that is preventing African Americans from this position.
This is hardly surprising. A lack of African American representation in leadership in the US is present in all fields. It exists in other areas within the world of football. How many NFL franchises are black-owned? 0. In all 103 years of the league – 0.
What’s up, Rooney Rule?
The Rooney Rule was developed in 2003, triggered by racism directed towards African American head coaches. The rule boils down to one minority candidate having to be interviewed for any open head coaching jobs.
What happened in 2003? Tony Dungy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was fired despite having a winning streak, and Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings was fired after his first losing season in his 10-year career. A study was then published showing that black coaches were more likely to be fired and less likely hired to be despite winning more games.
The Rooney Rule has had mixed results over the last 20 years.
Four African American coaches are in the league as of the 2022 season, and there are six minorities as a whole. This includes Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lovie Smith of the Houston Texans (fired on 1/8/23), Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburg Steelers, and Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins (if you didn’t know that last one, you’re not alone). Robert Saleh of the New York Jets is of Middle Eastern descent. Ron Rivera of the Washington Commanders is the only Hispanic head coach in the League. Brian Flores who is Honduran (of Garifuna descent) has been the only other Hispanic head coach since 1979.
There have been controversies in the history of the Rooney Rule – most noticeably the 2003 fining of the Detroit Lions when they did not comply with the interview rules. In 2012, serious thought was put into rule revision when no minorities were hired despite eight head coach openings and seven GM openings.
Revisions were made in 2020 and 2022. In 2020, two minority interviews were required for head coach positions and one for all coordinator positions for the first time. This also extended to senior-level positions like GM, club president, etc. Another edit was made in 2020 to reward teams with 3rd round draft picks if someone on a team’s coaching staff is promoted to GM or head coach for any team. For the first time, women count towards this quota.
I can’t help but remember this PE class I had in high school. The course focused on Team Sports and was open to all students. The guys on the team were given quotas for the number of times they had to pass the ball to a girl during any given game. Unsurprisingly, it felt like getting picked last for the dodgeball team every time.
The guys would groan if you couldn’t catch difficult passes thrown at inconvenient times and expected you to pass it back immediately. Despite working as hard as I could, being knocked to the ground by people a foot taller than me, my back stepped on, making successful passes, and keeping a positive attitude, my contributions were never good enough. That’s what I envision it would feel like to be a female candidate applying for a head coaching position for quota purposes.
In 2022, Brian Flores was fired from the Miami Dolphins and sued the NFL, the Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants. The Broncos and Giants were sued for sham, token interviews that were not used to consider Flores for the job but rather meet the quota. He also alleges that the Dolphins attempted to pay him to intentionally tank in 2019 to get better draft picks in 2020. After an investigation conducted by the NFL, tampering violations were discovered, and the Dolphins had to give up a 2023 first-round pick, and the owner is currently suspended.
As a sort of response, the Rooney Rule has been adjusted again – there has to be at least one minority on the offensive coordinating staff. These coaches will be at least partially paid by a special NFL fund to encourage the integration of more diversity. Nothing says, “we respect your experience, contributions, skills and talents – you are more than qualified and are a wanted member of this coaching staff” than the NFL paying the teams to bring on diverse candidates. I digress.
Private groups such as the Fritz Pollard Alliance help create resources for African Americans professionally in the coaching world; examples include: networking and mentoring. They are part of the team fostering diversity with the Rooney Rule and noticeably also focus on equity and inclusion.
History of the “First” African American Head Coaches in the League
Fritz Pollard – 1921
An entire article was dedicated to Fritz Pollard’s legacy as the League’s first African American coach and tied with Jim Thorpe on being the first Native-American Head Coach in the League. This article can be found here.
Art Shell – 1989
Fritz Pollard hoped for more African American coaches – he would die just three years before Art Shell was made head coach of the then Los Angeles Raiders. Art was often named the “first” African American coach of the modern NFL. He may not be the first, first, but he went through enough to receive that honor. It’s important to note that a significant contributor to the lack of black coaches between Pollard and Shell would be the ban on African Americans in the League for 12 years.
Shell was named AFC Coach of the Year in 1990; He was fired in 1994 after a 9-7 season, something the Raiders Owner Al Davis called a mistake (yes, that Al Davis – the one with alleged ties to the mob). Art Shell would go on to lower-level coaching positions until he was brought back as the head coach for the now Oakland Raiders in 2006, where the team completely bombed (2-12), and he got fired again.
Art Shell’s reflection on being the first African American head coach since Fritz Pollard in 1921 is documented here. A brief summary? It was A LOT of pressure.
A complete list of African American coaches from Fritz to 2022 can be found here.
Where do we go from here?
If the NFL is going to make real change in the League, they will need to go beyond stickers on helmets and touchdown slogans. A culture change will need to occur to show that the NFL has a genuine, authentic desire to end racism.
Quotas and required diversity will only help so much while leadership remains uncommitted to social justice. Remember, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” – MLK.
For more articles with scathing social commentary, look here.
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