We’re nearing the end of this year’s NFL coaching carousel with hirings announced in Chicago (Matt Eberflus), Denver (Nathaniel Hackett), Jacksonville (Doug Pederson), Las Vegas (Josh McDaniels), Minnesota (Kevin O’Connell) and New York (Brian Daboll). That leaves only three head coaching jobs available with the Dolphins, Saints and Texans still conducting their final interviews. And, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, there’s a “very real" fear within front offices that no minority coaches will be hired this cycle, leaving Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin as the NFL’s only black coach.
What’s ironic—maybe “tragic” is a better word—is that the NFL had more black coaches when the Rooney Rule was first instituted in 2003 (Tony Dungy, Herm Edwards and Marvin Lewis) than it does now. Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit against the league has brought increased attention to this issue, forcing the NFL to confront a difficult reality. That reality, of course, is that no matter how many distractions the league devises to turn our attention elsewhere, the NFL’s diversity problem can't be swept under the rug.
Most of the parties named in Flores’ suit have framed themselves as victims, dismissing his claims as both “defamatory” and “hurtful.” But usually, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Many minority coaches throughout football have experienced treatment similar to what Flores described. Marvin Lewis and Leslie Frazier have both recounted being brought in for “token” interviews, granted sit-downs only to satisfy the Rooney Rule with no chance of being hired or even viewed as a serious candidate.
There are still several minority candidates in the running—49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, who is biracial, is thought to be a frontrunner for the Dolphins’ job while Eric Bieniemy, Aaron Glenn and Byron Leftwich have all been tapped for interviews with New Orleans. Flores also interviewed for that position, though given the bridges he’s burned, the odds of him getting another NFL head coaching opportunity are slim to none.
It’s been hinted Houston is strongly considering hiring Josh McCown, whose only coaching experience is as a volunteer assistant at his sons’ high school. The optics of hiring McCown over more qualified black candidates like Bieniemy and Patrick Graham would be unthinkably poor.
Ron Rivera, the league’s only Latino head coach, told Breer he once turned down an interview because he suspected it was for the Rooney Rule, a practice we could see replicated as minority candidates begin to exercise their power, refusing to be a pawn in a broken system. Former Colts and Lions coach Jim Caldwell has declined interviews for much the same reason. Caldwell, of course, was fired after leading the Lions to consecutive winning seasons. Detroit hasn’t sniffed the playoffs since (17-46-1 record since 2018).
Soon, it will be Super Bowl week, directing eyes elsewhere as another welcome diversion amid the league’s current PR crisis. Maybe it will all blow over with free agency and the draft drowning out Flores as the unstoppable money machine returns to business as usual. Or maybe, this is the “fork in the road” Flores spoke of during his interview with CBS, a defining moment where the league finally takes stock of its shameful past and enacts real change.
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