Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
As the National Football League prepares to both fight the Brian Flores class-action suit and investigate his claims regarding a pattern of racist hiring practices and racial discrimination, many in the league are looking to make changes and they could be significant.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to teams days after the Flores’ lawsuit calling out the league for its ‘unacceptable’ lack of head coach diversity. He later emphasized those words speaking to reporters before Super Bowl LVI, indicating the league would investigate Flores’ allegations and seek an independent review to examine the hiring processes of NFL coaches.
Many within the league office have viewed this as a problem for several years. It led to the NFL adding to the Rooney Rule, rewarding teams that lose minority executives and coordinators to head coach and general manager positions. While the NFL did it to encourage teams to ‘build a pipeline’ of minority coaches and executives, the end results through two seasons aren’t what the league wanted.
With Flores now suing the NFL, going after the league for transgressions that many of his peers also experienced, Goodell and league executives plan to discuss new ideas this offseason.
One idea receiving some support from club and league executives, per NBC Sports’ Peter King, would be rewarding teams who hire a head coach with a high draft pick.
“One top club executive said he would support what several of his peers and some in the league office favor: a high draft choice awarded to a team that hires a minority coach. By “high,” I think there will be discussion whether a first-round pick should be the reward.”
NBC Sports’ Peter King on proposal to incentive NFL teams hiring a minority head coach
Crucially, as King notes, this is not an idea with support among Black coaches. It’s viewed as essentially bribing teams to hire a minority head coach instead of conducting a fair and unbiased hiring process.
Many around the league point to a need to develop a more diverse coaching pipeline, emphasizing a desire to have more minority offensive coordinators and quarterbacks coaches. A majority of recent NFL coach hirings indeed came from the offensive side.
However, a lack of quality candidates doesn’t seem to be the real problem. Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich boast outstanding resumes. Both play-callers won a Super Bowl, play an integral role in play-calling for an elite offense and carry endorsements from future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
They aren’t alone. Jim Caldwell, the former Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions coach, is lauded for his ability to develop quarterbacks and create strong offenses. He also won as a head coach, posting a 24-8 record in his first two seasons with the Colts and a 36-28 record in four years in Detroit.
However, none of them head-coaching jobs. Instead, offensive coordinators Brian Daboll, Nathaniel Hackett, Josh McDaniels, Mike McDaniel and Kevin O’Connell), former head coaches Lovie Smith and Doug Pederson, along with defensive coordinators Matt Eberflus and Dennis Allen were hired.
Incentivizing a team to hire a minority head coach might yield the results Goodell and league executives want. However, it’s the wrong solution to a major problem and implementing it risks delegitimizing quality minority candidates who deserve to be a head coach based on their merits.
Black coaches want the hiring and interview process to be equal, held to the same standards as their colleagues. We haven’t seen that in recent years, with the qualification bar seemingly being moved depending on each candidate. Rewarding with a first- or second-round pick for hiring a minority coach doesn’t actually address the problem, it also likely won’t receive the positive reaction the NFL wants.