There are 32 teams in the NFL. One of them employs a Black head coach. By my math, that is 3.125%.
Which is nowhere close to representing the 14% of Black people in the U.S. population. And even further away from the nearly 60% of Black players that comprise the NFL.
What if the reverse were true? What if NFL players were predominantly white? And NFL coaches were almost all Black and brown? Along with NFL owners and fans in the stands?
What if Black NFL agents represented all but a handful of white players and Black players were mostly uncomfortable hiring white agents?
What would we, as a society, demand? How would this change?
Quickly, I’d imagine.
USA TODAY COLUMNIST: Brian Flores’ bombshell lawsuit against NFL is a long overdue move for Black coaches
But what would we, as a society, demand if, say, a Black coach took a team to a Super Bowl, took a different team to the playoffs — one without a single Pro Bowl player — then lost his job because of cronyism? Then couldn’t find another job the next four years?
Or if a different Black coach led a franchise to consecutive winning seasons for the first time in almost a generation, was fired, then got the runaround with two other franchises who gave him an interview to satisfy the Rooney Rule?
Nothing, apparently.
And former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is sick of it. I’m guessing former Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell is, too — he just hasn’t filed a lawsuit against the league. Flores has, and included the details of Caldwell’s time in Detroit to help his argument, which, if we’re being frank, doesn’t need much help.
Why?
One Black coach. That’s it. That’s all we need to know.
So, again, what are we going to do to change this? Because as much as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, says he wants change — and I believe he does — he doesn’t own the teams. He can’t hire coaches.
Nor can he change the minds of owners — none of whom are Black. But you can. We can. Society can.
And it needs to.
Consider the words of an anonymous NFL owner, who told the NFL Network’s Jim Trotter recently that if Blacks are so concerned about getting jobs as coaches and general managers, they should buy their own teams and hire who they want to hire.
The words are paraphrased, but the message is clear. It is not shocking.
Why?
One. Black. Coach.
Which brings us back to Flores, who filed a 58-page class-action lawsuit Tuesday, claiming the Dolphins fired him January 10 not because he lost, but because he won, something team owner Stephen Ross allegedly tried to pay Flores $100,000 a game not to do.
Flores got an interview with the New York Giants. In a text exchange with his former boss, Bill Belichick, Flores found out the Giants had planned on hiring Brian Daboll even before Flores’ interview, making the process a sham.
The lawsuit alleges that Flores had a similar experience in Denver in 2019, when some of the Broncos’ hiring team allegedly showed up to their interview with him disheveled and hungover. On Thursday, the Broncos denied the allegations.
So did the Giants. And Ross and the Dolphins. So did the NFL, which referred to the claims in the lawsuit as “without merit.”
Which would be funny if it weren’t so painful first. Because the numbers don’t lie.
One. Black. Coach.
Flores’ lawsuit also mentions Caldwell, who made Peyton Manning better and helped him to a Super Bowl, who made Matthew Stafford better and helped him to the playoffs, who made Joe Flacco better and helped him to a Super Bowl and, finally, took a Lions team without a single Pro Bowl player to the postseason, then lost his job because nine wins weren’t good enough.
Maybe they weren’t. And maybe Caldwell made some mistakes, as all coaches do. But maybe the talent wasn’t good enough, either. And maybe he deserves another chance.
One he hasn’t gotten the last three offseasons, despite interviewing for a handful of jobs, including the Chicago Bears’ opening last month. The same Bears who have a promising young quarterback in Justin Fields. The same Bears who have struggled to score, who could use some offensive wisdom and stability, who could use a coach like Caldwell.
But, you know, purchase the Bears, hire who you want, right?
John Thompson, the former Georgetown basketball coach, once argued that equality for Black coaches would come when Black coaches were allowed to fail, when they didn’t have to be perfect, when they would get a second chance, or even a third one — like so many white coaches do in the NFL — rather than just getting an interview.
The NFL’s Rooney Rule made sure that teams have to give minority coaches an interview when a head coaching job opens up. A fine idea in theory: Get more Black candidates in front of owners, hope the up-close interactions leads to more hires. But it has been problematic in reality, leading to too many interviews like the one Flores said he had with the Giants and Broncos, and like the one Teryl Austin’s agent said the former Lions coordinator had with in Detroit in 2017 after Caldwell was fired.
And as long as owners are more comfortable hiring those that look and sound like them, not much is going to change. In fact, not much has changed at all.
The only way to change this is to change the pressure owners feel. Or to change the makeup of the owners. Neither of which will happen without broader societal change first.
Flores’ lawsuit could well be a tipping point toward that end. He likely sacrificed any chance at coaching again in the NFL by providing context — and receipts — for what everyone else can see in the numbers.
One. Black. Coach.
It’s shameful. And long past time to do something about it.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.