If you know football, you know Doug Williams.
Grambling legend, Tampa Bay great and the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
Since then, Williams has been a voice for the largely ignored and a champion for diversity. Whether it be fighting for HBCUs or trying to diversify the NFL both on and off the field, Doug Williams has been a presence.
Now, his team and employer, the Washington Commanders, are honoring him by establishing the Doug Williams Diversity Coaching Fellowship.
The initiative, which will hire a fellow for the role of offensive assistant, aims to increase the diversity within coaching staffs. It’s a move that supports the NFL’s recent mandate that all 32 teams hire a minority offensive assistant coach for the upcoming season.
That assistant can be “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority,” according to the policy.
“It’s a recognition that at the moment, when you look at stepping stones for a head coach, they are the coordinator positions,” said Steelers owner Art Rooney II, the chairman of the NFL Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee at the time. “We clearly have a trend where coaches are coming from the offensive side of the ball in recent years, and we clearly do not have as many minorities in the offensive coordinator [job].”
Through the Doug Williams diversity coaching fellowship, Washington will have access to HBCU coaches and provide diverse coaching applicants with the opportunity to become a part of an NFL coaching staff. They will work primarily with the head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach and assist in “film breakdown, game planning and coaching the scout team.”
“I have always said that fostering opportunities for young coaches of color is what we need to do in order to correct the issues we have been seeing with the hiring cycles in the league,” said head coach Ron Rivera in a statement. “We are excited to announce the Doug Williams Diversity Coaching Fellowship which will help us continue to grow as an organization and help foster young coaching talent to set them up for success in their careers. There is no better man to honor with the naming of this fellowship than the great Doug Williams who is a trailblazer in the NFL and has represented this organization with class for many years.”
Those interested in the fellowship can apply here.
