It’s ridiculous that teams need to be enticed to hire black coaches, but that’s where we are.
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So I’ll admit that, on Friday afternoon when the news broke, I recoiled at the idea that the NFL is considering a plan that would entice teams to hire (and retain) minority coaches and GMs by offering improved draft slots and additional picks.
The very idea that in order for black coaches — because that’s really who we’re talking about here; 70 percent of the league’s players are black but only three coaches and two GMs are — to get a fair shot they would need to be attached to other incentive is offensive. And ridiculous.
But it is also, I realized as the weekend moved on, where we are. The Rooney Rule, which stipulates that NFL teams must interview a minority candidate before filling a head coaching vacancy, hasn’t worked. Teams too often tick off that box by conducting sham interviews that neither give the candidate real experience pushing for a top job nor create an authentic chance for owners to truly change their thinking.
So this, at least, is something. It’s a real acknowledgment from the league that, without action, nothing is likely to change. Owners will reportedly vote on the proposal — which gives teams improved or added picks in the third and fourth rounds for hiring minorities as head coach, GM or QB coach — tomorrow. We’ll see then how they feel about it.
Steven Ruiz and I discussed our thoughts on this in the latest episode of The Counter, our NFL podcast. Some of the most nuanced insights on the subject came from Tony Dungy, who in a Twitter conversation ended up forcefully rebutting some of the flawed thinking around this topic while incisively explaining how the owners — whether they mean to be racist or not — uphold systemic racism by defaulting to the same type of coach over and over.
This is a complicated, layered topic and we thought it deserved a full show. Systemic racism has widespread and insidious effects that can be hard to see (especially for the many who are unwilling to even look), but examining how it plays out within the relatively contained world of professional football could* help illuminate a different side of the story for some people.
(*We are not overly hopeful about this, but, again, it’s better than nothing.)
We also discussed:
- How the coaching pipeline — which requires young coaches to get low-paying but highly sought-after gigs — stymies black players from getting into the business.
- The way stereotypes rooted in racism prevented black players from playing QB for so long, which in turn led to fewer black candidates rising in the profession. Ex-QBs generally make-up a third of the NFL’s head coaches.
- Whether a coach who gets hired under the new plan should feel “tainted” because a team needed extra incentive to hire him. (The answer here is: Of course not! Because the other option is to just let the status quo continue and never get a fair chance at a job he’s actually qualified for.)
We’ll continue to cover this story this week as it unfolds, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it in future episodes, too. For now, you can find the show at these links or listen below.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | TuneIn
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