Question

Explain why you think it was difficult for African-Americans to get head coaching positions within the NFL for so long.

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation: Through its' history the NFL has always been a league of what can only be described as a closed network. Once an individual becomes a head coach, whether he is good or bad, once he is fired, he immediately becomes a candidate for another head coaching job. Mike McCarthy, new coach of the Dallas Cowboys is a prime example. After doing well in Green Bay for a number of seasons, the team had two sub par seasons and McCarthy was fired. He then sat out of football for an entire year- only to be hired by the Cowboys. There is also the "coaching tree" idea of hiring. Examples would be Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs and Bill Belichick in New England. Each coach has numerous former assistants all of whom became head coaches because they worked for those men. Matt Nagy of the Chicago Bears was Andy Reid's offensive coordinator, and Matt Patricia, the Lion's head man was the Patriots defensive coordinator, with no head coaching experience. African Americans MUST be interviewed whenever a coaching job opens up per NFL rules, but most interviews are cursory. There are 3 African American head coaches out of 32 teams, and it is not because there aren't a plethora of excellent African American candidates. Eric Bienemy was the offensive coordinator of the World Champion Chiefs and even with the 6 coaching vacancies available at the end of the year, was not selected. Tampa Bay had the most prolific offense in the NFL this past season but their offensive coordinator, Byron Leftwich was also passed over. The best man should get the job regardless of skin color, but such is not the case in the NFL.