Tony Dungy sees a blueprint for the glass ceiling facing Black football coaches -- in the plight of Black quarterbacks of generations past.
Dungy should know, since he has been in both positions throughout his long career in the game.
The former Buccaneers and Colts head coach won a Super Bowl on the sidelines with Indianapolis, but he never got a chance to show what he could do under center during his playing days. That's because he wasn't allowed to play the position in the NFL.
Dungy, discussing the league's lack of diversity within the head-coaching ranks during NBC's pregame coverage of Super Bowl LVI, confirmed he was never given the opportunity to prove himself as a signal-caller in the NFL despite a decorated college career with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
"People might not know this," said host Maria Taylor, "but you were a four-year starter at the quarterback position in Minnesota. You were a two-time team MVP. But, what position did you play in the [NFL]?"
"Defensive back," Dungy answered. "Because they didn't really look at those out-of-the-box candidates and think they could be quarterbacks. And that's what's happening now with the coaches."
Dungy, now 66, played three years in the NFL from 1977-79, two with the Pittsburgh Steelers and one with the San Francisco 49ers. Remarkably, he recorded nine interceptions and recovered six fumbles in just 45 career games, despite transitioning to a new position at the professional level.
His best season as a college quarterback came in 1975 with Minnesota, when he accounted for 1,515 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and 5 rushing touchdowns.
Dungy's remarks came after co-analyst Drew Brees explained that the NFL coaching pipeline is stacked against minorities because they are often funneled into coaching defense in a league that is increasingly hiring coaches with offensive backgrounds for head-coaching gigs.
"In my 20 years, I had one Black quarterback coach or offensive coordinator," Brees said. "And, of all those quarterback coaches and coordinators, many of them went on to get promotions to become coordinators or head coaches in other places.
"So, certainly, that was a pipeline, and that's been proven with a lot of the recent head-coach hirings. Roughly two-thirds of the head coaches that are being hired now are coming from the offensive side of the ball. ... There hasn't been a pipeline of Black candidates that have been allowed to be in those positions for elevation."
Dungy agreed, but added that teams can do a better job of seeking out minority candidates from other roles.
"I get so sick of hearing about this pipeline [of Black coaches] being not there. We didn't think there were a lot of Black quarterbacks back in the 60s and 70s. They were there -- we just didn't give them the opportunity, and I think it's the same thing with minority coaches now."
Dungy and Brees both made salient points, but even Black offensive coordinators seem to face extra hurdles.
Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy and Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich were both passed over in the most recent hiring cycle, despite leading high-powered units for each of the last two Super Bowl winners. Meanwhile former Texans head coach David Culley, a longtime quarterbacks coach, was dismissed after just one year at the helm, with the team vaguely citing "philosophical differences."
And, while the NBC crew was undoubtedly correct about trailblazing Black quarterbacks smashing the league's discriminatory attitudes toward minorities at the position, much work still remains to be done on that front.
Absent from their discussion about the successes of Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson was any mention of Colin Kaepernick, whose career came to an unfortunate end after his peaceful protests seemingly ran afoul of what the league apparently deems as acceptable behavior from its Black leaders.
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