Shortly before the playoffs started, many head coaches were fired. During this time, the most talked about firing was the firing of Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith. Lovie Smith was the head coach for the Chicago Bears for 9 years before getting fired in 2012. He finished with a 81- 63 record. However, 2 years later, he was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He did not have a good season only winning 2 games in his first year, but they were not that good before he got there and the team was devoid of talent. This season, his team used their high draft pick to draft 2013 Heisman winner Jameis Winston and the team improved to 6 – 10. The team looks very promising in the eyes of many NFL fans. His players loved him. However, he was fired this year. Lovie Smith is black. As of right now, there are 6 minority head coaches in the NFL including newly hired black coach Hue Jackson of the Cleveland Browns and Latino coach Ron Rivera whose team the Carolina Panthers will be coaching in Super Bowl 50.
The Rooney Rule was established in 2003 and it requires teams to interview, at least one minority head coach when the position is open. This is basically the NFL’s version of affirmative action. It was named after Pittsburgh Steelers Owner and head of the NFL’s diversity committee Dan Rooney. The purpose of this rule was to give minority coaches an equal shot at head coaching positions and the expected outcome was an increased number of minority head coaches in the NFL. However, based off of the amount of minority head coaches alone (in a league that is mostly black) this rule doesn’t seem to be working.As a matter of fact, token candidates are a big problem for the league. Teams are literally interviewing black candidates for head coaching positions just because they are black. The team usually know who they want to hire already so this black candidate has no chance of getting the job. As a result, certain aspiring black head coaches become the go-to token candidate and as a result of so many interviews with no job, they aren’t taken seriously by almost every team. They become stuck as a position or assistant coach.
This rule does not apply to position coaches and coordinators. This is important to point out because of how people typically climb the ranks in the NFL. Most of the time, head coaches start out as position or assistant coaches and then move up to coordinator. Then, from coordinator you can become head coach. These promotions can happen either within on franchise or when the opportunity presents itself with other teams. This the career ladder that most NFL head coaches have had to take. ESPN writer Mina Kimes says in her article New study exposes the NFL’s real diversity crisis that, “According to new research from professors at Georgetown, George Washington, Emory and Iowa State University, white position coaches and assistants in the NFL are more than twice as likely to be promoted to coordinator than their black counterparts, regardless of their performance, experience or coaching background.” She continues to say that, “According to their research, quarterbacks coaches are more likely to become head coaches than, say, receivers or running backs coaches. And because white players are more likely to play quarterback (a recent study found that black high school quarterbacks are 39 percent more likely to be asked to switch positions when they enter college), they are also more likely to coach the position, and then possibly become coordinators, and so forth.” Combine this with the fact that this rule does not apply to position coaches and coordinators and you see that the Rooney Rule can end up not being effective and it hasn’t.
Stephen A points out that not only are black coaches at a disadvantage to get coaching positions, but the ones that do get head coaching positions get hired to unfavorable jobs. As you can see, there are a lot of systematic factors that can account for the low number of minority head coaches in the NFL. However, I know some of you reading this might be thinking to yourself, “I don’t think that (insert favorite NFL team here) owner/general manager is racist, even if we don’t have a black coach or coordinator on our team.” That may be true. That is irrelevant though because the number of nonwhite faces in coaching positions in the NFL are low. The reason why all those stats are what they are and why we see that the Rooney Rule isn’t working is because of something that effects the amount of opportunities available for people in most job fields: connections. Herm Edwards, former well-respected head coach of the Jets, in told ESPN writer Mina Kimes in her article New study exposes the NFL’s real diversity crisis that, “This league is about relationships… A lot of guys who are minority coaches that come in the league, after a while they get discouraged.” Sometimes, if you aren’t friends with people in charge, you will not get the job. This seems to be the case in the NFL and all of the NFL owners are white so it makes sense that most of their friends who have jobs in the NFL are white.
In a league in that is notorious for being very impatient with its coaches and sometimes players, we see coaches that have their jobs for long periods of time despite their lack of production. Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys and Jeff Fisher of the St. Louis Rams are just two examples of coaches like this. Many times, they have good relationships with the owner and Jason Garrett-Jerry Jones is the face of a tight head coach-owner relationship. They happen to be white. It’s kind of like the players whose parents are friends with the coach and are making the team regardless of skill because of it so there are no more spots for you. However, for Lovie Smith, the results seemed to be coming and he didn’t have enough time to prove that he is the right head coach for the team. Firing him made no sense from a team development perspective. Yet, Chip Kelly got another head coaching job VERY quickly after he was fired from the last one. It doesn’t seem right.
Representation is important. It is important to make people feel that if they work hard, they can achieve success, too, regardless of race. This is why there is so much anger over the lack of black and Latino Oscar nominations. In a league where most of the players are black, the coaching staff should have similar diversity. It makes sense. The Rooney Rule was created because of the lack of black head coaches in the NFL. The fact that this rule exists means that the NFL (not the individual teams but Roger Goodell) doesn’t like a lack of diversity. So, it’s time to fix the problem before it gets too big and there is only on minority coach. If this were the case for another big company, and the NFL is a business, then the general public would look at them with a raised eyebrow. The Rooney Rule needs to be amended to provide real opportunities to black coaches aspiring to be head coaches and not the fool’s gold that exists today.
The Soapbox 