(ThyBlackMan.com) In recent years, there has been a growing problem with racism in sports. Unfortunately, the United States generally has a big problem with the unfair and unequal treatment of Blacks. Such a situation is also present in the National Football League (NFL), one of the most popular sports competitions in the USA. In the NFL, seventy percent of active players are Black players. At the same time, there is the devastating fact that there are only two Black people in the NFL who are the head coaches of some of the teams in the NFL. One of them is Lovie Smith who has been leading the Houston Texans since 2022. The other coach is Mike Tomlin (recently rehired Brian Flores), who has been the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for a decade and a half. The humiliation of Black NFL coaches has been going on for years. This situation has been present for a whole century, that is, since the founding of this league.
The first Black coach in NFL history was Fritz Pollard, who in 1921 was both a player and coach of Akron Pros. Nothing much has changed a hundred years later when there is only one Black coach in the NFL compared to the beginnings of this league. When this league was founded the number of Blacks in the NFL was much smaller while today these players are dominant in the NFL. The fact that in the league in which 70 percent of Black players play, only two coaches who are Black, some of the clubs in the NFL sound, is a bit ridiculous. After the aforementioned Pollard, he waited for more than six decades for a new Black coach at an NFL club. Art Shell was the first African American coach in the modern era of the sport and led the Las Vegas Raiders.
In the history of the NFL so far, the clubs have been led by a total of 500 coaches, and only 24 coaches were Black. The percentage of head coaches who are Black is miserable while the number of assistant coaches who are Black is slightly better, so now it is 30 percent. “It’s terribly ironic that we live in a time that Fritz Pollard’s own coaching experience in the NFL isn’t really that different from today,” said Aron Solomon, chief legal analyst with Today’s Esquire, which provides comprehensive legal analysis on news stories of the day. “The NFL has one fundamental belief about Black coaches. They believe that Black head coaches are not fit to be leaders of men.”
The question of the miserable percentage of hiring Blacks for coaches in the NFL came to the public spotlight after the recently fired former Miami Dolphins coach, Brian Flores sued the NFL and three teams from this league for racial discrimination in employment. In addition to his former team, he mentioned the New York Giants and the Denver Bronchos. He talked about Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offering him $ 100,000 for each defeat because he recommended, that Flores tank (intentionally lose) the 2019 season. “God had gifted me with a special talent to coach the game of football, but the need for change is bigger than my person goals,” Flores said in a statement. “In making the decision to file the (complaint), I understand that I may be risking coaching the game that I love and that has done so much for my family and me. My sincere hope is that by standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me to ensure that positive change is made for generations to come.”
Regarding the evident racial discrimination that is present in the employment of coaches in the NFL, the president of the USA, Joe Biden, also criticized. Biden noted that the NFL did not meet the set standards regarding the employment of minorities as head coaches. It is obvious that the Rooney Rule, which was introduced two decades ago, is being violated to give African Americans an equal chance to be coaches of a club. Nothing was achieved with this rule because Black coaches only got a better chance for an interview but not to get a job. The rule was formed in 2002 and at that time there were only two Black coaches. Two decades later, the number of Black coaches is still the same. This is a sufficient indicator that the mentioned rule is worthless.
The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, is also aware that the mentioned standards have been violated. Goodell said that the league will not tolerate discrimination and that he is aware that the league has not fulfilled what it once committed to. “The commissioner pointed out, they haven’t lived up to what they committed to. They haven’t lived up to being open about hiring more minorities to run teams,” Biden said.
Goodell noted that now he cannot guarantee that the mentioned rule will be respected in the future, but that he is aware that certain changes must take place. This is not just about respecting the rules and set standards, but also about violating basic human dignity and preventing all people, regardless of their racial affiliation, from being treated equally, whether in the NFL or any other aspect of American society. The late Pollard would probably be disappointed that the attitude towards African Americans did not change a century later. It may even be worse because it is a great shame that something like this is happening in the 21st century. The 102nd edition of the NFL was recently completed, and out of 32 teams, as many as 13 franchises never had a Black coach, while 11 teams had only one Black coach during those years.
In addition to the problem of hiring coaches, racial discrimination also exists when it comes to club owners. No Black owner is present in the NFL currently. Deion Sanders, Pro Football Hall of Famer, dealt with that fact. Sanders sees a solution to this problem. He said that no one can force the current owners, who are very wealthy people, to hire a coach. “We’re going at it the wrong way,” Sanders said. “We’re trying to entice billionaires who are at least 50 or 60 years and older who grew up in a different time and era to hire who you desire them to hire when in fact they are where they are, they’re a billionaire because of the decisions that they made personally, assisted by a staff I’m pretty sure.” Sanders believes new teams should be formed in states like Texas, Arizona, Georgia, and Mexico City. This would then create space for additional engagement of Blacks for coaches.
It is obvious that the NFL has had a big problem with racial discrimination since its founding, and that it has not protected the rights of African Americans in the right way so far. Some radical steps should be taken to ensure that these rights are respected, because the NFL is a competition that is followed by a huge number of fans around the world, and that competition should propagate true moral values. In Europe, all players support Black footballers before the start of each match by kneeling. “No play day” is a good solution to solve the existing problem. All Black players and those who are in solidarity with them will not play in any football games on that day. If they and all other players did not send such a message, then they would continue to support the NFL and be complicit in a bunch of their hypocritical decisions that did not bring any benefit to Black coaches and their equal representation of the coaching personnel.
Staff Writer; Stanley G. Buford
Feel free to connect with this brother via Twitter; Stanley G. and also facebook; http://www.facebook.com/sgbuford.
