Black Head Coaches In The NFL
Each off-season, several NFL teams come under fire for their candidate search processes when trying to fill open jobs. The NFLPA and Johnnie Cochrane, among others, have helped to institute a system that requires that black candidates be involved in the interview process. I think it can be pretty well demonstrated that affirmative hiring processes are a catalyst to achieving diversity; this is true in head coaching jobs as well, though the progress is slow. But how can you seriously condemn the Lions for hiring Steve Mariucci, a coach from the Michigan UP, who has been very successful in the NFL, and who has already sparked a groundswell of season ticket renewals? He was the OBVIOUS candidate. Is it really a service for the Lions to go out to, say, Doug Williams at Grambling, and go through the interview process, when everybody knows Mooch is their guy?
Cochrane is putting his efforts in the wrong place. Professional coaches are just like professional players. They come from the college ranks. How can you hold the NFL's feet to the fire for having a lack of black head coaches, when right now in Division I NCAA football programs there are four black head coaches out of 170+ programs? The talent isn't there to hire. Talented and qualified black coaches like Tony Dungy, Herman Edwards and Mo Lewis have jobs now, certainly in part due to the hiring methods encouraged by the NAACP, Cochrane, and others. But you have to build the talent. Go talk to the university presidents and boards in this country. That's where the real hiring problems are.
3:44:56 PM 
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