Another NFL hiring cycle is about to come to a close, with disappointing gains in hiring Black head coaches.
Honestly, this could be the worst cycle we’ve seen in a long time. There were 10 NFL head coaching vacancies this cycle, six have been filled, and not one of them has been filled with a Black head coach.
This is ridiculous and shameful, even for a league that has always struggled with diversity in the decision-making rooms. Let’s be clear, the NFL has no problem stocking its teams with Black players because, much like Gladiators back in the day, everyone likes a good show.
But no professional sports league in which Black talent makes up 70% of the playing talent has historically done worse than the NFL. The NBA has, for decades, been light years ahead of the NFL in its diversity hiring practices, not just in the head coaching ranks but also in the front offices.
Every year, the NFL gives lip service to this notion that it wants to do better. In the end, the “Not For Long” league does what it has done for years, and that’s play in our faces.
This cycle could be the worst since the NFL introduced the Rooney Rule, designed to increase the number of Black and minority coaches in the interviewing mix for head coaching and front-office jobs. It’s continued to be no more than window dressing where owners interview the mandated one minority interview, then hire the white guys that they are most comfortable with. Black coaches have become hip to the game and are finally starting to bypass interviews that aren’t real, which is likely why Mike McDaniel passed on interviews with both the Browns and Bills organizations this cycle.
Unsuccessful and recently fired retreads like Kevin Stefanski and John Harbaugh quickly landed new jobs. At the same time, Mike McCarthy was plucked out of virtual retirement so that the Pittsburgh Steelers could pacify ancient quarterback Aaron Rodgers. And now we hear that the Buffalo Bills are entertaining Philip Rivers, who played a couple of games this season for the Colts.
Much like this current administration occupying the White House, the NFL is insulting our intelligence. But really, they don’t give a @#$#!
It all kind of makes historical sense when you consider that an AP article revealed that from 2000 to 2024, 31 of the 173 new head coaches (18%) were Black. At the same time, eight of the 19 head coaches (42%) who were Black were fired after their first season.
The NFL has been on the wrong side of the diversity conversation for a long time, and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
If you are keeping count, we came out of the weekend with just four openings left— Cleveland, Arizona, Buffalo, and Las Vegas —in what has been a blatant white-coaching hiring fest. Somebody will definitely bring up Tennessee hiring Arab American Robert Saleh, but I challenge you to name 50 NFL players of Arab descent.
The NFL season began with six Black head coaches out of 32 teams, and that number dropped to half by the end of the season, with Raheem Morris in Atlanta and McDaniel in Miami being shown the door. Mike Tomlin, the longest-tenured Black head coach, appeared to resign from the Pittsburgh Steelers organization, which likes to brag that it has never fired a coach, and whose owner’s name is attached to the Rooney Rule.
So that leaves the NFL with just three Black men as head coaches: Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay, Aaron Glenn with the Jets, and, of course, DeMeco Ryans with the Texans.
There is still a slim chance the numbers could improve by one, with the Cleveland Browns said to be serious about Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase. But there are other qualified names out there, like Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Denver Broncos Vance Joseph, and Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. Yet, Rivers gets an interview with no NFL coaching experience.
It’s time we stop allowing the NFL to urinate on our heads and tell us it’s raining.
