Fellowships helping former football players get NFL jobs

Lance Schulters faced a dilemma when his decade as an NFL player was ending.

Schulters knew he wanted to continue in the game, possibly in coaching. The problem: He was told to basically start from scratch, sort of like a proven chef being told to work the grill at McDonald’s.

“Why do I have to do that, like go back to college or high school … why have to start from the bottom if I have the knowledge already from playing for 10 years? Why go through that grunt work?” he asks.

Then Schulters was introduced to the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, now in its fourth decade of providing opportunities for minorities. The fellowship program’s objective is to use NFL clubs’ training camps, offseason workout programs and minicamps to give coaches opportunities to observe, participate, gain experience and, ultimately, get a full-time NFL coaching position. All 32 NFL clubs participate each year.

“I think the impact of the Bill Walsh Coaching Fellowship is amazing because it has opened up so many opportunities for so many coaches that otherwise may not have gotten them, especially coaches of color,” says Washington’s Ron Rivera, one of six minority head coaches in the league now that Raheem Morris (Atlanta) and Romeo Crennel (Houston) are interims. “The thing that I really appreciate about the Bill Walsh Fellowship is that by getting the opportunity that I was given, I earned everything I’ve gotten from that point other than getting the Bill Walsh opportunity.”

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and former NFL head coaches Lovie Smith and Marvin Lewis came out of the program, too.

“The Fellowship is a critical avenue for minorities to gain experience and exposure,” Tomlin explains. “And not only short-term experience and exposure, but long term. The fact that the program is now for the entirety of the season I think is really beneficial to growth. We talk about network a lot, but the actual growth and the vocation of coaching and the exposure that you get over the course of that length of that season is invaluable.”

Schulters spent time coaching in Seattle and now is a defensive assistant with the Falcons.

“The Bill Walsh Fellowship gave me the chance to be at the level I want and learn from the guys at the top level,” says Schulters, “and take info from them to better myself, and that is how I approached it.

“This provides us with more opportunities to get into the business of coaching as minorities. A chance to continue to get our foot in the door where the place might be shut otherwise.”

The Walsh project, inspired by and named after the Hall of Fame coach of the 49ers, is supplemented by a similar program for minorities seeking to enter football front offices.

Since 2015, the Nunn-Wooten Scouting Fellowship Program has served to expose former NFL players, as well as college recruiting and personnel staff, to careers in pro football scouting. The fellowship provides participants access to NFL club business and the skills needed for a career in NFL scouting.