PITTSBURGH (Newsradio KDKA) - Is the NFL racist? A lot of people are throwing around opinions following shocking allegations from former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. He is suing three teams claiming racist hiring practices for head coaches. He also claimed that he was offered $100 grand a game to lose in order to secure better draft picks. Was he fired because he didn’t go along with the plan, because he is black, or because he was hard to deal with? A court will decide. Dolphins ownership vehemently denies the allegations of attempting to throw games.
Not many head coaches in the National Football League are minorities. Five, or 15.6%, at this point. Interestingly, Jacksonville Jaguars owner, Shad Khan, decided to hire a white guy to lead his team. Mr. Khan is a person of color. Is he racist, too? Maybe he just hired the person he felt most confident in, or comfortable with, running his football club on game day. Remember that whole ‘content of character’ conversation we had so long ago? Besides, getting to the top of coaching is tough. The job is earned and never guaranteed. Just review the resumes of the two current Super Bowl coaches, Sean McVay and Zac Taylor.
Yeah, the Rooney Rule is nice. But, it just gets someone an interview….not a job. Color may get you in the door but your personality and plan get you the job. So does your price tag. These factors also lose you a job. As I mentioned on the air: I have been the token interview several times in my radio career. Society and HR consider me to be a white guy. So what? This is what happens when the government forces companies to track hiring practices. I was a checkmark in a row of boxes not a serious candidate for the opportunities despite my qualifications.
In fact, an argument could be made that racial preferences and incentives for hiring head coaches could actually be hurting minority candidates. Why would an NFL team hire a minority candidate off another team’s staff if that potential rival receives third round compensatory picks in the next two drafts for grooming that candidate? That is exactly what happened when the Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel, who is mixed race, away from the 49ers last week. Yes, the teams are in different conferences but they could meet up in a Super Bowl someday. Could these preferences keep an AFC team from hiring a strong candidate from another AFC team in the future? If so, who loses? The candidate. Our obsession over one’s race and ethnicity is purely a divisional game.
Hiring based on race is stupid. Hiring someone because you find their skin color favorable means that you are not hiring the best person for your particular needs. Why would the owner of a company not hire the best for their brand? Oh, because of a quota system? Then it is OK?
Racial preferences in hiring - be it the President of the United States or the president of a football team - are wrong. Yes. It happens. It is wrong. It should be called out when observed. But would you really want to work for someone who wouldn’t hire you unless forced to? OK, ignore the fact that an NFL head coach makes $6.6 million a year on average. And, frankly, all the fuss over the NFL just plain bored me so much that I spent the better part of an afternoon doing an unscientific study.
Is the NFL racist? Well, 24.9% of players recently identified as ‘white’ which would translate to 75.1% being players of color. The US Census Bureau estimates that 76.3% of Americans are white. Who is currently underrepresented in the league?
I was so bored that I went to each team’s website, clicked on ‘coaches’ and counted. Yes, I creeped coaches all day long. And, I profiled based on looks. It was mind-numbing, really. Dirty, sinister, judgmental. No, I did not count ‘assistant research coach’ or strength personnel. I counted coaches and assistant coaches - which get paid well, by the way. Six figure gigs. Some make mid-six figures. But that is not head coach money. Surprisingly, some teams list way more coaches than others.
Since I did not ask for DNA samples I had to profile the staffers - just like the government does. I guessed. Based on my unscientific count, roughly 41% of coaches in the NFL are people of color. Surprisingly, many teams had female employees in the ranks, as well. But I did not factor in gender.
Coach Flores may be right. It may exist. And, there may be a chummy network among owners. However, based on my visual profiling and count I would say racism is NOT the big problem for the National Football League. Leading in to Super Bowl weekend, the NFL should be much more concerned about the accusations of cheating or tanking games.
Kevin Battle has never coached a down in his life but he knows a leader when he sees one. He is cohost of the KDKA Radio Morning Show with Larry Richert. It airs M-F 5a-9a on Pittsburgh’s 100.1FM & AM1020 KDKA or on the free Audacy app. Ask your smartspeaker to: ‘Play KDKA.’ Thank you.