In latest coaching carousel, NFL takes a step back
Where have all the black coaches gone? To the unemployment line, at least in the NFL. Five of the eight coaches fired over — and since — the last season were black, and so far none of them has been rehired as a head coach in the league.
That leaves two African-American coaches still standing among 32 NFL teams. And in a league in which more than two-thirds of players are black, that’s not nearly enough.
The news Wednesday that the Broncos hired Vic Fangio as coach and the Jets named Adam Gase means six of the eight teams looking for coaches found their man.
And so far none of the new hires is a minority — although multiple reports Friday indicated the Dolphins are targeting Patriots defensive play-caller Brian Flores, who is black, to be their coach.
That’s not a new problem in the NFL, of course. It’s also one the league addressed with the Rooney Rule, which ensures teams interview minority candidates for any head-coach and other front-office openings.
The rule was a step forward, and for a long time it seemed to be working. To make sure, the NFL just last month announced changes to strengthen it.
The changes were hailed as a breakthrough at the time by former Giants linebacker Harry Carson, executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which promotes diversity in NFL coaching and executive ranks. They came after a season in which seven coaches were replaced — and only one of the replacements was black.
“After last season’s hiring cycle, something had to be done,” Carson said. “These enhancements should strengthen the rule and ensure that it applies as intended and truly gives candidates of color a fair chance.”
So far, not so good. Teams might be interviewing minority candidates but — lately, at least — they’re not hiring them.
And if last year was a step back from true diversity, this year has started even worse.
Of the last 13 coaching hires in the NFL over two seasons, the only minority hire was Steve Wilks — and the Cardinals fired him after just one season. The only two black coaches left in the NFL — which at its peak in 2011 had eight — are the Chargers’ Anthony Lynn and Steelers’ Mike Tomlin.
“I liked it better when there was eight and not just two,” said Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. “But I do think there is a cyclical nature to this and that may be part of it.”
Lapchick, who authors annual reports on the level of diversity in all the major professional leagues, said the NFL experienced a similar dip in the hiring of black coaches after the 2011 season into 2014. Then the hiring picked up again to the point in the last two years when there were eight coaches of color — including Panthers coach Ron Rivera, who is Hispanic.
Lapchick is hoping this dip also might be short-lived while others believe promising black coaches might get more opportunities if the Rooney Rule were expanded to include coordinator positions too.
“Am I concerned there are (two) coaches of color?” Lapchick asked. “Of course, and if I hadn’t just gone through it in my head looking at 2011 and the three years after that I would have been deeply discouraged by what I saw at the end of this season.”
Just why the number of minorities is down depends on whom you’re talking to, though it’s certainly not for a lack of qualified candidates. Almost all NFL team have black coaches on their staffs who potentially could run things just as well as any of the coaches hired this postseason.
It doesn’t help that a few of the more recent hires are head-scratching choices, at least to those outside the organizations.
The Cardinals reached into the college ranks to name Kliff Kingsbury as their new coach. That was unusual because Kingsbury had a losing record at Texas Tech and never has coached in the NFL.
And the Buccaneers hired former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, 66, who is coming out of a one-year retirement to take the job.
Diversity is one of the NFL’s strengths. But right now, there’s not nearly enough of it among head coaches.