Coming up, we were told that if you work hard, sacrifice, prove yourself and produce results, you will reap the rewards you deserve.
Those were the values that spurred our careers. But for Black people and People of Color, an unwritten rule was added to the equation.
You will work twice as hard to achieve half as much in twice the time.
When my father told me that as a teenager, I didn’t quite understand it. I thought if I applied myself, did the work and achieved, I would be rewarded.
Just imagine if I had wanted to be an NFL head coach.
If so, I would probably be writing this story about myself and my fellow Black coaches who were also passed over.
Sound familiar? It should.
This is the reality Black coaches in the NFL have faced for decades, but even more so within the last few years.
Black NFL Coaching History
In 2006, three years after the Rooney Rule was instituted, the league seemed to be heading in the right direction. There were seven Black head coaches, four more than three years prior. After a few years of fluctuations, that number reached seven again in 2017. These were hopeful signs of things to come.
But then things soured and the hiring pace of Black NFL head coaches regressed alarmingly.
At one point, the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin stood alone in a room of 31 other coaches who didn’t look like him.
For a league in which nearly 70% of the players are Black, that’s an embarrassment.
The only thing more embarrassing was the treatment some Black head coaches received.
Anthony Lynn was hired by the Chargers in 2017. In his first two seasons, the Chargers went 9-7 and 12-4 with one playoff victory. The next two seasons the team was plagued by injuries, but they fought through to finish 7-9 in 2020. If a few plays went their way, they could have easily finished 9-7 or 10-6. Most importantly, the Chargers drafted franchise quarterback Justin Herbert. Yet after one year with Herbert, Lynn, who went 33-31 in four seasons, was fired and replaced by Brandon Staley, who has gone 19-15 in his first two seasons with one playoff loss.
Steve Wilks was hired by the Cardinals in 2018 and handed a talent-challenged roster. The defense was depleted and Josh Rosen was the starting QB. At the end of the season, Wilks was fired and replaced by Kliff Kingsbury. Then Arizona drafted Kyler Murray, added DeAndre Hopkins and gave Kingsbury four years to build a contender, which he ultimately failed to do. That’s talent and time never afforded to Wilks.
Fast forward four years and Wilks, named Carolina’s interim head coach after Matt Rhule started out 1-4 and was fired, led the Panthers to a 7-10 record. For his success, he was passed over in favor of Frank Reich, who was fired by the Colts after starting 3-5-1 last season.
And what about Brian Flores, who I have written about extensively?
Hired by the Dolphins in 2019, Flores first cleaned up the mess left by Adam Gase. After going 5-11, Flores led Miami to 10-6 and 9-8 seasons, becoming the team’s first coach since Dave Wanstedt (2002, 2003) to post back-to-back winning seasons. Yet that wasn’t enough as Flores was shockingly fired in favor of Mike McDaniel, who was then given talent that Flores was never gifted.
Then there’s the infuriating hiring pattern of the Houston Texans.
Their treatment of David Culley and Lovie Smith remains infuriating. Yes, we all knew they were brought in to be “clean-up” men. But management knew the team lacked talent, and they still fired and humiliated two good Black coaches consecutively. And even though the team brought back former Texans’ star linebacker DeMeco Ryans as their new head coach, that doesn’t erase the stench of their previous actions.
And let’s not forget about Eric Bieniemy. Despite being a 2x Super Bowl champion and helping orchestrate the rise of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense, Bieniemy was forced to make a lateral move to become Washington’s offensive coordinator in order to prove his worth to those who doubt him.
Many others can be added to the list, including Jim Caldwell and Leslie Frazier, but the point is made.
The NFL has a biased hiring system that has progressively worsened over the last five years.
So What Are Black Coaches To Do?
In 2021, there were nine head coaching vacancies. Culley was the only Black head coach hired. Todd Bowles became the NFL’s third Black head coach that season only after Bruce Arians retired and decreed Bowles be his successor.
In 2022, there were seven head coaching vacancies. Lovie was the only Black head coach hired (Mike McDaniel doesn’t identify as Black).
This year, there were five vacancies. Ryans was the only Black head coach hired.
That’s 21 vacancies over three years, yet only three Black coaches were hired to fill them, two of which were fired.
Wilks, Culley and Smith were asked to keep talentless ships afloat, which they did. Flores actually righted the ship and led Miami to consecutive winning seasons without the talent given to his successor. And Jim Caldwell was fired for actually winning in Detroit!
So what exactly is going on? Ryan Clark posed that very question on NFL Live.
“I want to know what these other coaches are doing that African American and minority coaches aren’t doing that’s allowing them to get jobs,” said Clark.
Me too, Ryan, because the path isn’t clear at all.
Most of the aforementioned coaches were still fired despite doing what was asked, demonstrating the barrier to entry continues to grow for Black coaches. Yet while they’re climbing, the door for others has opened up beneath them.
So what should Black coaches do?
While there is no clear-cut answer to the question, and the goalpost continues to be pushed back, Black coaches are left fuming and wondering when their time will come, and if it will ever actually arrive.
The only thing left to do is continue working while hoping teams refrain from adding new layers to the barrier.
