Though the NFL playoffs are far from over, the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins have all hired new head coaches to run their teams next season.
Of those four coaches, only Redskins coach Ron Rivera is a minority. None are black. For a league where 70 percent of players are minorities, with the majority of that group being black, this is a problem.
According to The Associated Press, blacks have been hired for only two of the 19 open head coaching spots over the last three years, and there are only four minority head coaches (Rivera in Washington, Anthony Lynn in Los Angeles, Brian Flores in Miami and Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh) in the league.
That number is very low despite the presence of the Rooney Rule, a measure that was introduced in 2003 that mandates that teams interview coaches of color for coaching vacancies.
“There’s not much to be optimistic about from this year’s results for sure,” Richard Lapchick, the director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida, told The AP. “This is a serious cause for concern that we’ve now gone three years with the lowest numbers we’ve had in a long time. It’s a serious problem. It’s fair to say nobody is feeling pressured to diversify, especially at the club level.”
The Cleveland Browns, the only team left with a vacant head coaching position, could add a fifth minority hire to the ranks.
According to Sports Illustrated, qualified candidates include Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, former Lions and Colts coach Jim Caldwell, former Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frasier and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
As some of those coaches are still working for teams in the playoffs, Cleveland may want to make a move before they are available. If that happens, the optics for the league will not get any better.
“Without a proper and nuanced enforcement of the Rooney Rule, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will continue to battle the perception that the NFL’s majority white ownership group either consciously or unconsciously prefers head coaching candidates who look like they do,” according to Sports Illustrated.
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