By Marc H. Morial
TO BE EQUAL “It’s hard to tell what, if any, trends will emerge from this hiring cycle. Maybe the emphasis on diverse candidates will continue. Maybe team owners have opened their minds to defensiveminded coaches. Perhaps the ‘leader of men’ model will continue. Nothing has been solved, per se. But there’s cautious optimism the league is in a place to grow from here.” — Jonathan Jones, CBS Sports
Two years ago this week, I met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, along with my fellow civil rights leaders, to discuss the failure of the “Rooney Rule” to diversify the ranks of the league’s head coaches.
At that time, despite nearly 20 years under a requirement that teams interview at least one candidate of color for head coaching and
senior football operation positions, only one of the NFL’s 32 head coaches was Black. Brian Flores had just been fired after three seasons as Miami Dolphins head coach and was suing the NFL and several teams for racist hiring practices.
Thanks in large part to our advocacy, the 2024 season will begin with nine head coaches of color, including six Black coaches.
It’s a far cry from the parity we continue to seek in a league where more than half the players are Black, but it is significant progress for which Commissioner Goodell, team owners and senior leadership should be acknowledged.
The first move of the year to replace a white head coach with a coach of color came from Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who has been outspoken about inequality and prejudice. He recently founded the
group Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and endowed a chair in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He downplayed the significance of Jerod Mayo becoming the Patriots’ first Black head coach, saying “I chose the best head coach for this organization.” But Mayo acknowledged the moment: “What I will say, though, is I do see color because I believe if you don’t see color, you can’t see racism. … It does matter so we can try to fix the problem that we all know we have.”