It does not have to take you years or centuries to notice this because it is a common occurrence. Take a minute this weekend to watch the National Football League. The most likely observation is the presence of a few black players led by a white coach. The assistant manager is also likely to be white, in addition to the medical team. Is it a FIFA rule that 97% of coaches must be white, or is it just a myth that “white coaches are the best coaches”LoL! There is absolutely no such rule. But it hits me differently. Let’s even look at the English Premier League in 2022. There is only one black Crystal Palace coach. The rest of the teams are encouraging the publication of these articles.
To begin, in 2001, Rooney attempted to devise a rule to combat all of this. Nearly 20 years ago, the NFL appeared to have the solution. After two of the three Black head coaches were fired following the 2001 season, the league commissioned a study that resulted in the Rooney Rule. Teams must interview at least one diverse candidate for head coaching and senior football operations positions, according to the rule. It appeared to help for a while, but progress has since stalled. The ruling has deviated from what is observed. As we live in a modern world, attempting to be equal costs nothing. Just as white coaches are trained and given coaching skills in football, we can have blacks as assistants even if they are not made Head Coaches.
Let’s take a break and look at cricket, basketball, and volleyball. Why are the white numbers so high as the head coach? Made me believe they are the best and that blacks could not compete with their abilities. Perhaps it will bring me some relief. The NBA has at least 80% of black players who have played and retired. At least 60% of the current players are black Americans, which is a good balance ratio. I’m not sure if it’s because black people have tall genes, LoL! or what makes black people the most dominant in basketball.
“I think it’s about opportunities. I think we’ve been head coaches and shown we can coach any position, so it’s just about being given a chance.”
The big question that comes to mind is that we have white footballers who, after retiring, are being given managerial roles in various leagues. What happens in basketball, where the majority of the population is black? After retirement, they are simply forgotten, and only their names are remembered on various “fake” jerseys. Please explain the criteria for appointing these coaches to me. The Rooney rule If it was keenly taken into consideration, I doubt we would have a difficult time developing black people to be great coaches.
We spend so much time talking about the NFL’s lack of diversity when the lack of diversity in Major League Baseball appears to be the same. MLB now has only four non-white managers after the firing of Ozzie Guillen by the Miami Marlins.
While MLB has a higher percentage of white players—and certainly fewer black players than the NFL—the number of Hispanic and Latino players would lead one to believe that MLB teams would value cultural diversity in a manager. In the midst of increased scrutiny, The Washington Post compiled and analyzed three decades’ worth of data and conducted interviews with 16 of the 24 living current and former NFL head coaches who identify as Black, as well as dozens of other coaches, former players, team executives, agents, and others.
“What we have to understand is this, there are a lot of (Black) guys out there who can do the job. It’s not like we have to reinvent ourselves.”
Despite the league’s end-zone pledge to “END RACISM,” Black coaches continue to be denied top jobs in a league where nearly 60% of the players are Black.
However, while White candidates have a wide variety of paths to the league’s top coaching jobs, Black coaches have a much narrower set of options. They have had to serve significantly longer as mid-level assistants, are more likely to be given interim jobs rather than full-time jobs, and are held to a higher standard in terms of job retention.
The data quantifies the frustration felt by many of those coaches, which erupted this year in the form of a lawsuit. The lawsuit and its potential consequences loom over the NFL as the new season begins with only three Black head coaches: Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lovie Smith of the Houston Texans, and Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That’s the same number as in 2003 when the NFL implemented the Rooney Rule, which required teams to interview at least one candidate of color for open head coach and front-office positions. Despite the NFL’s long-standing issues with a lack of Black leadership, the league and the vast majority of its teams have lagged behind corporate America in implementing basic best practices that could diversify its top roles. The league hired its first chief diversity and inclusion officer in 2020, only after widespread protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder forced businesses across the country to confront systemic racism. Only eleven NFL teams now have a “DEI lead,” a staffer tasked with “fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.”
Individuals may not be able to find work if they lack skills or experience, do not have contacts, or do not apply. However, there is no consistent evidence that any of these explanations apply to Black coaches.
According to my research, for example, Black assistant coaches in college football were less likely to be promoted. They had lower career satisfaction than their white counterparts, but neither of these factors was related to the coaches’ experience, skills, or social networks. This is also true in the NFL, where sports economists have demonstrated that Black assistant coaches are just as capable as their white counterparts. To summarize, there is no evidence that Black coaches are underqualified. The “glass cliff” provides yet another organizational explanation.
According to this theory, members of underrepresented groups are more likely to be hired by organizations with a history of poor performance or in crisis. When performance continues to deteriorate, the leaders are likely to be replaced by members of the majority group. Researchers have discovered that race and racism have an impact on the glass cliff, including sports leaders. The evidence is overwhelming: organizations, their leaders, and systemic racism all play a role. The pattern will continue until structural change occurs.
We can summarize all this by saying, given the impact of systemic racism on all aspects of society, it is not surprising that NFL coaches, analysts, and scholars – including those in media studies, sports studies, sociology, sport management, and behavioral science – blame systemic racism for the league’s lack of Black coaches.
