The NFL definitely has a race issue when it comes to NFL head coaching hires, and that’s exemplified by the last two years.
Out of seven vacancies in 2021, only one team, the Texans, hired a Black head coach, David Culley. At the end of the season, despite doing a good job of navigating through rough waters left behind by Bill O’Brien, Culley was fired.
After Culley’s firing and the Dolphins’ shocking firing of Brian Flores, the NFL currently only has one Black head coach, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.
Last month, optimism for Black coaches simmered as there were nine vacancies. But to date, six have been filled by white head coaches and only three remain (Dolphins, Saints and Texans).
The NFL’s head coaching hiring process is biased and exclusionary and that is exactly why Brian Flores filed his scathing lawsuit on the first day of Black History Month.
Owners say they seek “the best candidate” yet that candidate is predominantly white. A system that always seems to claim a Black coach is “a serious candidate” is the same that refuses to hire one despite being equally, if not more qualified. In the end, there always seems to be an excuse as to why Black coaches aren’t first considerations, second choices, or deserving of a second chance.
Over the past few weeks, Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich seemed poised to be the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. But late Thursday afternoon he officially withdrew his name from consideration from the team which drafted him in 2003.
The move by Leftwich, the favorite for the job, surprised many.
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