The National Football League is one of the most well-recognized sports associations within the United States, and some could argue one of the biggest internationally. They feature star players, multi-billionaire owners, and over the years have created a brotherhood that lasts a lifetime. It’s easily one of the most entertaining and electric sports leagues known to man. But, in recent years there has been turmoil over the misrepresentation of black head coaches within the league. So, the question that arises nowadays is how it is possible to have less than 1% of coaches be black in a league where 70% of the players are?
Since the league’s debut in the 1920s, the league has been home to some of the greatest athletes, coaches, and minds that the game has ever seen. Yet, we’ve reached a point where the look of the league hasn’t changed in terms of the roles of those involved and what title they possess. To be more specific, the national football league has seen recent backlash for the lack of diversity within the head coaching position. Out of all 32 teams within the NFL, only 2 have black head coaches, which is less than 1%. Now this has been one of many racial disparities within the league, that they’ve tried to eradicate. The league has implemented the Rooney rule, which requires that when looking for head coach that teams must interview one minority candidate. But even with the implementation of the rule, there still seems to be a hill for minority head coaches to even get a fair shake.
NFL Under Growing Spotlight Due To Lack Of Diversity Among Head Coaches — YouTube
There still is a lack of representation, even when coaches are more than qualified. Including the 2 African American head coaches, there are still only 5 head coaches in the league who don’t identify as white. And the NFL should be appalled by these numbers, there’s no reason why minorities should make up more than half of the players but less than 5 percent of the coaches. That’s a number that’s completely unacceptable and disproportionate, and more meetings and talks need to be had to help eradicate these kinds of statistics in the league.
We need more representation all around the board, it’s cool to have the majority of minorities making up the players association, but when it comes to coaching, we got to think of the opportunities being missed out, or the things we aren’t showing the youth. It’s a young person’s dream to be a professional athlete, but there are a bunch of other jobs to offer and in order to get that across they need to see someone who looks like them in those positions. This is a precedent must be set so we can get to a point where this isn’t as shocking as it is.
