It is just a subtle reminder to us that we have not yet reached a level playing field or a color blind society. This despite the huge strides made in society as a whole by African Americans. Moreover, despite the huge strides made in the NFL by African Americans in terms of number of coaches.
I thought Jann Murray-Garcia’s words in her column last week capture exactly my feelings on the subject:
“They won! They won!” I jumped up, cheering as the Indianapolis Colts player intercepted Tom Brady’s pass in the final minute of the AFC playoff game. “I’ve got to call my Dad.”
It wasn’t just the Colts’ victory I was celebrating. “Two black head coaches in the Super Bowl when there have never been any before! Dad will be so happy!”
My 10-year-old daughter looked confused, sitting on the couch and following the game closely with the rest of our family. “Canela,” I said, stepping back, “they used to think we weren’t smart enough to coach NFL football.”
Recognition replaced confusion on my daughter’s young face. Race had consciously begun to matter to her long ago in her young life, as her peers pointed out, curiously and, unfortunately hurtfully, her physical distinctiveness among Davis kids. She also has progressively learned of her ancestors’ American struggle for justice, and has engaged in her own.
I had a great conversation with my dad that afternoon, although my celebration was tinged with melancholy. As surely as I was a young kid watching “The Brady Bunch” in the 1970s, I could also be found at my dad’s knee, cheering for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Franco Harris, Mean Joe Green, Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann. If you’d told me then that I would be 43 before a black head coach won the Super Bowl, I would not have believed you. Especially in an industry (sports) wherein African Americans generate so much revenue for industry executives and owners, a 30-year wait seems … well, sad.
But welcome into my heart, which I share with you at personal risk, hoping you believe me and wanting you to know. Why are African Americans still so invested in the achievements of people of our racial group, people we don’t know? Isn’t it time to move beyond that?
Many of my more melanin challenged friends have suggested that this should indeed be a non-issue. It is a notion that is tough to dispute. We all want to believe that race does not matter any more. That sex does not matter anymore. And yet it is 2007 and in a few hours for the first time, an African American coach will be doused by Gatorade and for the first time shall be a Super Bowl Champion coach in a league where more than half of the players are African-Americans.
And yet as we look broader into the political future we see that in 2008, a full 216 years since the first President was elected, that we will see the possibility that either a woman or a non-white person could potentially be selected as the nominee for one of the two major parties.
And I could go down the list to demonstrate to people the vast inequality between white and non-white and even men and women in a whole range of things. But we all know this.
And so I echo Dr. Murray-Garcia’s question: Shouldn’t we move beyond that?
And my answer is that unfortunately, we have not. Why? Because we are not there yet. But we are getting closer to the day when we are.
—Doug Paul Davis reporting
“And yet it is 2007 and in a few hours for the first time, an African American coach will be doused by Gatorade and for the first time shall be a Super Bowl Champion coach in a league where more than half of the players are African-Americans.”
One thing I suspect most contemporary football fans don’t know is that back in 1921 — yes, 86 years ago — Fritz Pollard became the first African-American head coach in the NFL. Pollard was also the first black person to play in the Rose Bowl — he was the quarterback at Brown University of the Ivy League — and the first black quarterback in the NFL. (Needless to add, Pollard suffered horrendous discrimination both at Brown and as a pro player.)
Sadly, as the 1920s progressed, black players were systematically excluded from the NFL; and it was not until after World War II that they were admitted in large numbers; not until 1988 that a black q.b. (Doug Williams) led his team to the Super Bowl (and won the game’s MVP); and not until 1989 that the second black head coach (Art Shell) was hired.
Interestingly, the NBA has (in modern times) been way ahead of the NFL. Back in 1968, Bill Russell was the head coach of the world champion Boston Celtics; and back in 1975, both the head coach of the Eastern champion Washington Bullets, K.C. Jones, and the head coach of the Western champion and eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors, Al Attles, were black. An irony of that series, beside the fact that the Warriors winning was a HUGE upset, was that the best player that year, in a league totally dominated by great black players, was Rick Barry, a great white player.
The one sport today which really needs improvement in terms of creating better opportunities for black coaches is major college football.
These numbers are a bit out of date, but this was the story in June, 2005, according to Yahoo Sports: “There are 117 colleges participating in Division I-A football and there are only three black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent black athletes leads to 25 percent black assistant coaches leads to 3 percent black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent white athletes leads to 75 percent white assistant coaches leads to 97 percent white head coaches.”
It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?) However, there is a lot of nepotism in hiring assistant coaches (who eventually become head coaches) and that tends to exclude a lot of mediocre black players who could become good coaches, while it does not exclude equally mediocre white players.
“And yet it is 2007 and in a few hours for the first time, an African American coach will be doused by Gatorade and for the first time shall be a Super Bowl Champion coach in a league where more than half of the players are African-Americans.”
One thing I suspect most contemporary football fans don’t know is that back in 1921 — yes, 86 years ago — Fritz Pollard became the first African-American head coach in the NFL. Pollard was also the first black person to play in the Rose Bowl — he was the quarterback at Brown University of the Ivy League — and the first black quarterback in the NFL. (Needless to add, Pollard suffered horrendous discrimination both at Brown and as a pro player.)
Sadly, as the 1920s progressed, black players were systematically excluded from the NFL; and it was not until after World War II that they were admitted in large numbers; not until 1988 that a black q.b. (Doug Williams) led his team to the Super Bowl (and won the game’s MVP); and not until 1989 that the second black head coach (Art Shell) was hired.
Interestingly, the NBA has (in modern times) been way ahead of the NFL. Back in 1968, Bill Russell was the head coach of the world champion Boston Celtics; and back in 1975, both the head coach of the Eastern champion Washington Bullets, K.C. Jones, and the head coach of the Western champion and eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors, Al Attles, were black. An irony of that series, beside the fact that the Warriors winning was a HUGE upset, was that the best player that year, in a league totally dominated by great black players, was Rick Barry, a great white player.
The one sport today which really needs improvement in terms of creating better opportunities for black coaches is major college football.
These numbers are a bit out of date, but this was the story in June, 2005, according to Yahoo Sports: “There are 117 colleges participating in Division I-A football and there are only three black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent black athletes leads to 25 percent black assistant coaches leads to 3 percent black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent white athletes leads to 75 percent white assistant coaches leads to 97 percent white head coaches.”
It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?) However, there is a lot of nepotism in hiring assistant coaches (who eventually become head coaches) and that tends to exclude a lot of mediocre black players who could become good coaches, while it does not exclude equally mediocre white players.
“And yet it is 2007 and in a few hours for the first time, an African American coach will be doused by Gatorade and for the first time shall be a Super Bowl Champion coach in a league where more than half of the players are African-Americans.”
One thing I suspect most contemporary football fans don’t know is that back in 1921 — yes, 86 years ago — Fritz Pollard became the first African-American head coach in the NFL. Pollard was also the first black person to play in the Rose Bowl — he was the quarterback at Brown University of the Ivy League — and the first black quarterback in the NFL. (Needless to add, Pollard suffered horrendous discrimination both at Brown and as a pro player.)
Sadly, as the 1920s progressed, black players were systematically excluded from the NFL; and it was not until after World War II that they were admitted in large numbers; not until 1988 that a black q.b. (Doug Williams) led his team to the Super Bowl (and won the game’s MVP); and not until 1989 that the second black head coach (Art Shell) was hired.
Interestingly, the NBA has (in modern times) been way ahead of the NFL. Back in 1968, Bill Russell was the head coach of the world champion Boston Celtics; and back in 1975, both the head coach of the Eastern champion Washington Bullets, K.C. Jones, and the head coach of the Western champion and eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors, Al Attles, were black. An irony of that series, beside the fact that the Warriors winning was a HUGE upset, was that the best player that year, in a league totally dominated by great black players, was Rick Barry, a great white player.
The one sport today which really needs improvement in terms of creating better opportunities for black coaches is major college football.
These numbers are a bit out of date, but this was the story in June, 2005, according to Yahoo Sports: “There are 117 colleges participating in Division I-A football and there are only three black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent black athletes leads to 25 percent black assistant coaches leads to 3 percent black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent white athletes leads to 75 percent white assistant coaches leads to 97 percent white head coaches.”
It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?) However, there is a lot of nepotism in hiring assistant coaches (who eventually become head coaches) and that tends to exclude a lot of mediocre black players who could become good coaches, while it does not exclude equally mediocre white players.
“And yet it is 2007 and in a few hours for the first time, an African American coach will be doused by Gatorade and for the first time shall be a Super Bowl Champion coach in a league where more than half of the players are African-Americans.”
One thing I suspect most contemporary football fans don’t know is that back in 1921 — yes, 86 years ago — Fritz Pollard became the first African-American head coach in the NFL. Pollard was also the first black person to play in the Rose Bowl — he was the quarterback at Brown University of the Ivy League — and the first black quarterback in the NFL. (Needless to add, Pollard suffered horrendous discrimination both at Brown and as a pro player.)
Sadly, as the 1920s progressed, black players were systematically excluded from the NFL; and it was not until after World War II that they were admitted in large numbers; not until 1988 that a black q.b. (Doug Williams) led his team to the Super Bowl (and won the game’s MVP); and not until 1989 that the second black head coach (Art Shell) was hired.
Interestingly, the NBA has (in modern times) been way ahead of the NFL. Back in 1968, Bill Russell was the head coach of the world champion Boston Celtics; and back in 1975, both the head coach of the Eastern champion Washington Bullets, K.C. Jones, and the head coach of the Western champion and eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors, Al Attles, were black. An irony of that series, beside the fact that the Warriors winning was a HUGE upset, was that the best player that year, in a league totally dominated by great black players, was Rick Barry, a great white player.
The one sport today which really needs improvement in terms of creating better opportunities for black coaches is major college football.
These numbers are a bit out of date, but this was the story in June, 2005, according to Yahoo Sports: “There are 117 colleges participating in Division I-A football and there are only three black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent black athletes leads to 25 percent black assistant coaches leads to 3 percent black head coaches.”
“Fifty percent white athletes leads to 75 percent white assistant coaches leads to 97 percent white head coaches.”
It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?) However, there is a lot of nepotism in hiring assistant coaches (who eventually become head coaches) and that tends to exclude a lot of mediocre black players who could become good coaches, while it does not exclude equally mediocre white players.
Good stuff Rich, now you that mention it I remember the Fritz Pollard story.
The only thing I might take issue with is this:
“It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?)”
I agree but were Tony Dungy or Lovie Smith great players? Dungy was a decent player in the NFL for a few seasons and Lovie Smith never played in the pros. There are lots of black players who fit that profile.
I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL. Just a guess. I’m not saying it has to end up that way. I guess a lot of fans wonder why the same failed coaches get recycled so much and new blood (regardless of race) doesn’t get a shot.
Good stuff Rich, now you that mention it I remember the Fritz Pollard story.
The only thing I might take issue with is this:
“It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?)”
I agree but were Tony Dungy or Lovie Smith great players? Dungy was a decent player in the NFL for a few seasons and Lovie Smith never played in the pros. There are lots of black players who fit that profile.
I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL. Just a guess. I’m not saying it has to end up that way. I guess a lot of fans wonder why the same failed coaches get recycled so much and new blood (regardless of race) doesn’t get a shot.
Good stuff Rich, now you that mention it I remember the Fritz Pollard story.
The only thing I might take issue with is this:
“It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?)”
I agree but were Tony Dungy or Lovie Smith great players? Dungy was a decent player in the NFL for a few seasons and Lovie Smith never played in the pros. There are lots of black players who fit that profile.
I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL. Just a guess. I’m not saying it has to end up that way. I guess a lot of fans wonder why the same failed coaches get recycled so much and new blood (regardless of race) doesn’t get a shot.
Good stuff Rich, now you that mention it I remember the Fritz Pollard story.
The only thing I might take issue with is this:
“It’s a mistake to think that because African-Americans make up 50% of all major college football players that would translate eventually to 50% of all head coaches. Why not? Because the skills for playing are not the same as for coaching. (You think Bill Walsh or Marv Levy were great players?)”
I agree but were Tony Dungy or Lovie Smith great players? Dungy was a decent player in the NFL for a few seasons and Lovie Smith never played in the pros. There are lots of black players who fit that profile.
I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL. Just a guess. I’m not saying it has to end up that way. I guess a lot of fans wonder why the same failed coaches get recycled so much and new blood (regardless of race) doesn’t get a shot.
“I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL.”
That may be so. And it may be true in college, some day, too. Time will tell.
However, it’s worth noting that a lot of major college coaches never played major college football. And many (maybe even most) NFL head coaches either did not play in the NFL or barely played in the league at all. The skill set is just different.
Hence, the pool of candidates to start out in the coaching game is far wider than the player pool. And because there are far more white people in the larger American pool (roughly 5:1), it seems likely that whites should be a majority in the major colleges, despite being only half of the players.
One NBA head coach demonstrates this “wider pool,” even though he’s quite an exception in coaching. Lawrence Frank, the head coach of the New Jersey Nets, who is white, never played basketball. He did not play in high school, college or the pros. He was simply a student at Indiana University a number of years ago, and Bob Knight, the school’s head coach, hired him to be the team’s manager (i.e., the guy who brings the equipment to practice, washes the uniforms, etc., etc.). After 4 years of being the manager and observing what the coaches do, he was hired as a graduate assistant coach. And after years of doing that job on the college level, he became an NBA assistant coach and eventually an NBA head coach.
In the past, there were quite a few NFL head coaches who never played the game. However, since Marv Levy (who led the Bills to 4 Super Bowls) retired, I don’t think there are any, now. But still, quite a few current NFL head coaches never played in the NFL or for a major college.
“I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL.”
That may be so. And it may be true in college, some day, too. Time will tell.
However, it’s worth noting that a lot of major college coaches never played major college football. And many (maybe even most) NFL head coaches either did not play in the NFL or barely played in the league at all. The skill set is just different.
Hence, the pool of candidates to start out in the coaching game is far wider than the player pool. And because there are far more white people in the larger American pool (roughly 5:1), it seems likely that whites should be a majority in the major colleges, despite being only half of the players.
One NBA head coach demonstrates this “wider pool,” even though he’s quite an exception in coaching. Lawrence Frank, the head coach of the New Jersey Nets, who is white, never played basketball. He did not play in high school, college or the pros. He was simply a student at Indiana University a number of years ago, and Bob Knight, the school’s head coach, hired him to be the team’s manager (i.e., the guy who brings the equipment to practice, washes the uniforms, etc., etc.). After 4 years of being the manager and observing what the coaches do, he was hired as a graduate assistant coach. And after years of doing that job on the college level, he became an NBA assistant coach and eventually an NBA head coach.
In the past, there were quite a few NFL head coaches who never played the game. However, since Marv Levy (who led the Bills to 4 Super Bowls) retired, I don’t think there are any, now. But still, quite a few current NFL head coaches never played in the NFL or for a major college.
“I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL.”
That may be so. And it may be true in college, some day, too. Time will tell.
However, it’s worth noting that a lot of major college coaches never played major college football. And many (maybe even most) NFL head coaches either did not play in the NFL or barely played in the league at all. The skill set is just different.
Hence, the pool of candidates to start out in the coaching game is far wider than the player pool. And because there are far more white people in the larger American pool (roughly 5:1), it seems likely that whites should be a majority in the major colleges, despite being only half of the players.
One NBA head coach demonstrates this “wider pool,” even though he’s quite an exception in coaching. Lawrence Frank, the head coach of the New Jersey Nets, who is white, never played basketball. He did not play in high school, college or the pros. He was simply a student at Indiana University a number of years ago, and Bob Knight, the school’s head coach, hired him to be the team’s manager (i.e., the guy who brings the equipment to practice, washes the uniforms, etc., etc.). After 4 years of being the manager and observing what the coaches do, he was hired as a graduate assistant coach. And after years of doing that job on the college level, he became an NBA assistant coach and eventually an NBA head coach.
In the past, there were quite a few NFL head coaches who never played the game. However, since Marv Levy (who led the Bills to 4 Super Bowls) retired, I don’t think there are any, now. But still, quite a few current NFL head coaches never played in the NFL or for a major college.
“I suspect at some point you’ll see black coaches end up in roughly the same percentage of the spots as they play in the NFL.”
That may be so. And it may be true in college, some day, too. Time will tell.
However, it’s worth noting that a lot of major college coaches never played major college football. And many (maybe even most) NFL head coaches either did not play in the NFL or barely played in the league at all. The skill set is just different.
Hence, the pool of candidates to start out in the coaching game is far wider than the player pool. And because there are far more white people in the larger American pool (roughly 5:1), it seems likely that whites should be a majority in the major colleges, despite being only half of the players.
One NBA head coach demonstrates this “wider pool,” even though he’s quite an exception in coaching. Lawrence Frank, the head coach of the New Jersey Nets, who is white, never played basketball. He did not play in high school, college or the pros. He was simply a student at Indiana University a number of years ago, and Bob Knight, the school’s head coach, hired him to be the team’s manager (i.e., the guy who brings the equipment to practice, washes the uniforms, etc., etc.). After 4 years of being the manager and observing what the coaches do, he was hired as a graduate assistant coach. And after years of doing that job on the college level, he became an NBA assistant coach and eventually an NBA head coach.
In the past, there were quite a few NFL head coaches who never played the game. However, since Marv Levy (who led the Bills to 4 Super Bowls) retired, I don’t think there are any, now. But still, quite a few current NFL head coaches never played in the NFL or for a major college.