The 2024 NFL season began with great promise for Black coaches as the league fielded six Black head coaches.
Returning were Mike Tomlin (Steelers), Todd Bowles (Bucs), and Demeco Ryans (Texans) while Antonio Pierce (Raiders), Jerod Mayo (Patriots) and Raheem Morris (Falcons) were newly hired.
Some claim there were seven Black head coaches but it’s important to note that Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel doesn’t identify as Black.
The three returning coaches all made the playoffs and Morris just missed out on the postseason.
The Raiders and Patriots lacked talent and, unfortunately, Pierce and Mayo weren’t given another season to develop their teams, a situation too many Black head coaches experience in the NFL.
So once again, the NFL has a Black head coaching problem, but this time the players are voicing their frustrations for all to see.
The AP surveyed more than 65 Black players from 25 teams and discovered what many of us were already painfully aware of.
Black head coaches are rare and it’s a problem.
“Until you see more coaches,” Dolphins linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said, “we’re all going to look at it the same way: There aren’t enough Black coaches.”
The AP asked, “Are you discouraged or disappointed by the number of NFL head coaches who are Black?”
More than one-third (36%) responded yes, 58% responded no and the remaining 6% were not sure.
The survey next asked “Were you encouraged by the number of Black coaches hired last offseason?” to which 92% responded yes, which was expected as the six Black head coaches at the start of the 2024 season doubled the three in 2023.
“It’s definitely an encouraging sign to see it happen more often. … I believe that there’s always been a stigma and there has always been preconceived notions or microaggressions in the league, especially in a league full of white owners,” said Jets defensive end Solomon Thomas.
Over the past 25 years, notes the AP, only 31 of 173 full-time NFL head coaching hires were Black (18%), But during that same time, eight of the one-and-done coaches (those fired after one season) were Black (42%).
One of the biggest contributors to that 42% was the Houston Texans, who hired David Culley and Lovie Smith as “clean-up” men to manage the team through the rough times until they could find someone they felt comfortable enough with to give them proper time and resources necessary to build a team.
While that man Demeco Ryans, the team’s third Black head coach in a row, has led the team to back-to-back postseason appearances, it was an embarrassing time for Culley and Smith.
The upcoming season, barring any shocking surprises, will begin with five Black head coaches- Tomlin, Bowles, Ryans, Morris and new Jets head coach, Aaron Glenn.
The first four have good shots at making the postseason while Glenn is in a rebuilding stage with the Jets, who fell apart over the last two years after giving Aaron Rodgers too much input in player personnel decisions.
Hopefully, the Jets organization gives Glenn, the former Lions’ defensive coordinator and a former player and scout with the Jets, the time he deserves to build a team.
If not, expect the aforementioned 36% number increase.
