In the NFL, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin is the league’s only Black head coach. It’s an interesting development, seeing that nearly 58% of players in the NFL are Black.
Therein lies a massive double standard and racial undertone in professional football. Black men are relied on to carry their teams to victory but not entrusted enough to lead them as coaches. But this is hardly a new revelation.
Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores was fired after back-to-back winning seasons, something hard to come by in recent history for Miami. The Dolphins posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time since a dominant run of .500 or above from 1989-2003. Although they weren’t able to make the playoffs in any of his three seasons with the team, the team made massive strides in roster upgrades and have made progress in the development of talented young QB Tua Tagovailoa.
Miami won eight of their last nine games before the ultimate decision to fire Flores. This came as a shock to many, and rightfully so. Dolphins player Nik Needham said he was ‘sick’ over the firing, and players across the league responded with contempt.
We find another scenario with David Culley of the Houston Texans. Culley, a first time head coach, was fired after posting a 4-13 record. Obviously, that’s less than desirable, but with controversy surrounding Deshaun Watson and arguably the worst roster in the league, anything more than four wins would’ve been seen as a miracle.
It exposes the underlying issue in that Black head coaches are given a shorter leash than their white counterparts.
Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations called out the double standard within the league. He added the league needed to acknowledge the issue and ‘not shy away’ from the history of firing Black coaches after short tenures or winning seasons. This was even before the firing of Culley.
Tony Dungy is arguably the most prominent of those fired due to the double standard. Dungy was fired from the Buccaneers in January of 2002 after repeated playoff losses and being too conservative on offense, according to then-owner Malcolm Glazer.
Jim Caldwell was fired from the Detroit Lions after consecutive 9-7 seasons, including two of only three playoff appearances since 1999. He was replaced with Matt Patricia, who proceeded to go 13-29-1 before ultimately being fired as well. Caldwell was a respectable coach who seemed to be dragging the Lions out of the basement of the NFC North, but was again a victim of the shorter leash and held to higher standards.
The Rooney Rule was set in place in 2003 to counter this issue. Created by former Steelers owner Dan Rooney, it was originally stated that teams must interview at least one external minority head coaching candidate but has since been altered to include two minority head coaches, along with interviewing coordinators, general managers, and other executives. It has also been amended to include compensatory draft picks for teams who lost Black personnel that were hired as coaches or general managers elsewhere.
The rule was partially set in response to the firing of Dungy, and also Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings. The NFL felt threatened by a serious lawsuit on racial discrimination by two civil rights attorneys who showed data that proved Black coaches were more likely to be fired despite historically winning more games than white coaches, and less likely to be hired to begin with. The rule seemed to be working at first. Now, nearly 20 years later, we’re back at square one having to revise the rule because, again, the Steelers are the only ones to take it seriously.
This goes for offensive coordinators as well. According to The Undefeated, from 2009 to late 2019, 91% of offensive coordinator hires were white.
Two of the NFL’s top offensive coordinators are Black, Tampa’s Byron Leftwich and Kansas City’s Eric Bieniemy. Yet, neither can seem to get hired as a head coach. In fact, Bieniemy has been interviewed multiple times but never been hired, despite heading arguably the league’s most terrifying offense for the last four seasons.
There is also a trend in hiring younger, white coaches since the emergence of the Rams’ Sean McVay. Steve Wilks, a Black one-and-done coach for the Cardinals, was replaced by Kliff Kingsbury, someone with no NFL experience.
This isn’t an issue with lack of talent. There’s a huge pool of Black coaches and offensive coordinators with experience who are often overlooked, while guys like Kingsbury, Urban Meyer and Joe Judge are hired with little to no tenures in the pros. It’s unfortunate the Rooney Rule even needs to be put in place, and there isn’t an immediate fix to the issue.
The front offices of each NFL franchise have to commit to improvement on this, for the good of the sport and themselves. The racist bias held around the league is damaging, and is keeping teams from hiring and retaining some really talented guys.
Christo Siegel is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Christo by tweeting him at @imchristosiegel.
