This offseason there was an idea that NFL owners tossed around when discussing how to fortify the Rooney Rule and encourage more minority head coaching hires. The idea — which fizzled as quickly as it was floated — was that teams would move up spots in the middle of the draft for making a minority hire.
Once the idea leaked, it was widely panned and that was it for that. But merely the fact that the NFL owners know there is a problem in that area should tell you something.
The Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching vacancies, was implemented in 2003. At that time there had been just seven minority head coaches in NFL history.
Everyone agrees that the Rooney Rule is not perfect and allows for teams to easily get around it and hire who they want regardless. But the benefit to it is that minority coaches get their name out there as a legitimate candidate and they get in the room where they have a chance to prove they’re worthy. So, in that regard, it has value.
With the Black Lives Matter protests happening the past couple weeks, NFL teams and players are coming out in support of the cause.
Some teams have historically been at the forefront of race relations classically, some have not. One way to judge that is head coaching hires.
Football Perspective put out a list of NFL teams by minority head coaching hires since 1990. The two teams with the most total head coaching hires are the Buccaneers and Raiders with three.
Here's how many head coaching hires, and minority coaching hires, each franchise has had since 1990. This excludes interim coaches, since they weren't hired. pic.twitter.com/LuW7CgV3Ui
— Football Perspective (@fbgchase) June 7, 2020
Those three hires for the Raiders are Art Shell (twice) and Hue Jackson. And considering they’ve hired an NFL most 13 head coaches in that time, even that is not a great ratio.
Prior to Art Shell’s hiring by the Raiders in 1989, there had been just two minority head coaches in NFL history — Fritz Pollard (1921, 1925) and Tom Flores (1979-87).
That not only has the Raiders are the first modern-era NFL team to hire a minority head coach, but the first to hire a black head coach as well and they stand alone with the most minority head coaching hires (four) in NFL history.
That’s fine for the Raiders, but it is a pretty sad state of affairs for the NFL.
Four NFL minority head coaching hires are at least twice as many as 30 NFL clubs. Only eight NFL teams have had more than one minority head coaching hire and 11 teams have NEVER had a minority head coach — Rams, Bills, Falcons, Giants, Cowboys, Titans, Saints, Patriots, Jaguars, Texans, and Ravens.
The Texans and Ravens can at least use the excuse that they’ve only existed for a short time and have each had just three head coaches in franchise history. The rest have no such excuse.
The Rams and Bills each have hired the most head coaches (eight) since 1990 with none being minorities.
In a league that is predominantly filled with black players, this sad history would seem to have to change.
A couple teams to break that barrier this offseason were Washington and the Miami. Washington hired long time former Panthers head coach Ron Rivera and the Dolphins gave former Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores his first ever head coaching job.
Flores in particular was one of the first NFL head coaches to release a statement following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the ensuring protests. His words were powerful and offer one illustration of the value in hiring minority coaches. I will leave you with them.
Statement from Head Coach Brian Flores. pic.twitter.com/dJOdHHSvNT
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) May 29, 2020
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