This year, the NFL endorsed the phrase “End Racism,” to help combat the systemic racial injustice in the police force. Despite this, the NFL has failed to address the systemic injustice in their own league. When I first wrote about this topic, there were only 3 minority head coaches in the NFL. Now, after firing and hiring, there are still only 3 minority head coaches. While the first ever Muslim-American head coach Robert Saleh shows that there is some progress being made, the NFL still has a way to go. Not only is it harder to get a head coaching job, but if a minority is fired, it is harder for the minority coaches to get even an assistant job in the NFL. Todd Bowles was fired after coaching a poor New York Jet team, and was only interviewed by one team, despite his success on defense.
(Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City Cheifs)
For two years in a row, Eric Bieniemy, was passed up on by teams looking for a head coach by less experienced, white coaches. Despite helping to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to back to back Super Bowl Appearances, he remains in Kansas City. For some coaches, all it takes is one year of success to get a head coaching job. Head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals was hired after being the Quarterback Coach of a team that appeared in the Super Bowl. Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals was hired after having done a mediocre job at Texas Tech. In the NFL, minority coaches have become the “other.” Bieniemy not being a current NFL coach is disrespectful to him and shows that there is a reluctance to hire minority coaches in the NFL. This problem, does not stop at the head coaching level, as there are even less (2) minorities in the General Manager Position. Below is an image of how many first time minority coaches have been hired in a certain period in the NFL.
The refusal to hire minorities has become a big problem in the NFL. Older, white owners are scared to hire someone different from them and give the power of their team to a minority. While the NFL has taken action to address this like the “Rooney Rule” (require NFL teams to interview at least two minorities for Head coach and one for General Manager) the NFL still has to do more in order to combat the Systemic Racial Injustice in the NFL. I believe that this is a systemic injustice because the only reason successful minority coaches like Bieniemy are not a head coach, is because they are a minority. This relates to John Lewis and his book “March” and Martin Luther King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Activists like Lewis and Kind spent their whole life advocating for equality, yet America and the NFL lacks equality. The NFL gets millions of views per year, and addressing the systemic racial injustice the King and Lewis fought against in the NFL will lead to systemic injustice being addressed nationwide, by all Americans.
Hill, J. (2021, February 05). ‘Some team has to want me’. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/black-coaches-see-the-limits-of-the-nfls-racial-reckoning/617943/
Maya, A. (2021, January 06). Tony Dungy ON Nfl’s lack of minority head Coaches: Owners ‘need to be looking for leaders’. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.nfl.com/news/tony-dungy-on-nfl-s-lack-of-minority-head-coaches-owners-need-to-be-looking-for-
Sando, M. (2016, July 19). Rooney rule in reverse: Minority COACHING hires have stalled. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/17101097/staggering-numbers-show-nfl-minority-coaching-failure-rooney-rule-tony-dungy