The never-ending coaching carousel continued this past week as NFL franchises that didn’t make the playoffs try to evoke enough change to reverse their fortunes for next season. But with the latest dismissals of Miami Dolphins’ Brian Flores and Houston Texans’ David Culley, that leaves just one Black head coach, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomline, left manning NFL sidelines. New Orleans Saints star Demario Davis was not happy about it.
The Saints’ former All-Pro was vocal on Twitter about the NFL’s alleged hypocrisy when it comes to promoting racial equity within the league – as the reality, at least from the head coaching standpoint, seems to be in stark contrast to the ideals they promote.
Only 1 black NFL head coach, yet we make beanies that say “equity” #inspireChange. I’m sorry but that ain’t it,” asserted Saints linebacker Demario Davis. “Just for reference, If coaching looked like the locker room, there would be 19 black head coaches. Should we be ok with this gap?”
Only 1 black NFL head coach, yet we make beanies that say “equity” #inspireChange. I’m sorry but that ain’t it. Just for reference, If coaching looked like the locker room, there would be 19 black head coaches. Should we be ok with this gap?
— DemarioDavis.eth (@demario__davis) January 14, 2022
There are a handful of factors that dive in much deeper than simply comparing the coaching diversity on the sidelines to that of the NFL players on the field. But the Saints star’s intentions with his rant do ring true to some degree.
There have been a handful of articles detailing the quick hook on Black coaches and the struggle for many to even get in the door. Even the NFL has taken affirmative action to adjust the Rooney Rule within the past couple of seasons in order to afford more opportunities for minority coaching hires.
But while it’s one one thing to try and spark interest in more minority coaching hires, it’s another to actually get teams to bite. The league itself acknowledges that there is supposedly a “double standard” when it comes to assessing Black coaches, this according to NFL executive VP for football operations Troy Vincent.
Via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“I don’t think that that is something that we should shy away from,” Vincent said, via the Washington Post. “But that is all part of some of the things that we need to fix in the system. We want to hold everyone to why does one, let’s say, get the benefit of the doubt to be able to build or take bumps and bruises in this process of getting a franchise turned around when others are not afforded that latitude?”
According to AJC writer Michael Cunningham’s latest piece and examined data from ESPN’s Luke Knox, Black coaches often statistically enter worse coaching situations in Year 1 of their tenure but would still outperform expectations compared to the larger sample size of their white peers.
David Culley experienced a somewhat similar scenario in inheriting the unappealing amalgam that was the Texans, who were still reeling off the infamous tenure of Bill O’Brien and the sexual assault allegations on star quarterback Deshaun Watson. While 4-13 isn’t anything to write home about, it’s about what you would expect from a team mostly devoid of the talent it had just two seasons ago.
Brian Flores, meanwhile, just steered the Dolphins to two winning seasons with a 19-14 collective record in that span. The conflict reportedly lied within inherent disagreements between Flores and ownership. While each situation, like Flores’, can be considered unique – the end result still stayed the same.
Until changes made by the NFL start bleeding out onto the franchises it oversees, the message from Saints’ Demario Davis and various voices around the league remains the same.
