NFL reaches ‘major milestone’ with record 9 minority head coaches named for 2024 season

Patriots

The Patriots’ decision to hire Jerod Mayo was one of four minority head coaching hires so far this offseason.

Newly named New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo faces reporters Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, during an NFL football news conference in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Mayo succeeds Bill Belichick as the franchise’s 15th head coach. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) AP

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The National Football League has for years urged teams to hire more minority head coaches.

That mission finally seems to be paying off.

Four minority head coaches have been hired this year: Atlanta’s Raheem Morris, New England’s Jerod Mayo, Las Vegas’ Antonio Pierce and Carolina’s Dave Canales, bringing the number of coaches of color entering the season to nine. 2024, the most in league history. Seattle and Washington have not yet filled their vacancies.

Richard Lapchick, founder of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, called it an “important milestone” for the NFL.

“The league has been struggling to increase the percentage of head coaches of color, particularly black head coaches,” Lapchick told The Associated Press. “The NFL has worked hard to implement programs to make this happen and the rewards have finally come home.”

The NFL originally created the Rooney Rule in 2003 to promote the number of minority head coaches (and later general managers and executives) by requiring teams to interview at least one person of color before making a hire.

The league further expanded the rule in 2020, incentivizing teams to hire minority assistant coaches by awarding compensatory draft picks if they lose a minority coach or top football executive to another team. NFL rules stipulate that teams receive third-round picks in each of the next two drafts, or in each of the next three drafts if another team hires two minority employees, as long as the candidates have been on the team. for at least two years.

So while the Rams will receive two third-round picks for losing Morris to the Falcons, the Buccaneers won’t receive any since Canales was only with the organization for one season.

“I’m very happy with what’s happening in the league,” said Ron Rivera, former head coach in Carolina and Washington, who is Latino. “I think that when you have to implement incentives to hire minorities, it probably indicates that something needs to change. But for me, it’s really about making sure there are opportunities for minorities, and I think when you open up your candidate pool to have more to draw from, it helps you find the best person, whoever that may be.”

Rivera interviewed eight times for head coaching jobs with various teams before landing his first job in Carolina in 2011. He said at times he felt like he was a “token” minority candidate, which was frustrating.

Over time, he felt that teams were really interested in hiring him and that he got better at interviewing as time went on.

“When I finally realized there was real interest, it was a very nice feeling,” Rivera said.

There is still work to do to achieve equality.

According to the Lapchick Institute’s 2023 Racial and Gender Report Card, two-thirds of the league’s players (66.7%) are minorities, and 53.5% are Black. Those percentages do not reflect the percentage of black and minority head coaches.

But progress is being made.

There are six Black head coaches heading into 2024: Morris, Mayo, Pierce, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles and Houston’s DeMeco Ryans, doubling the number from the 2023 season. The other minority coaches are Canales, who is Mexican-American, biracial Mike McDaniel of Miami and Robert Saleh of the New York Jets, who is of Lebanese descent.

Rivera believes the success of minority head coaches in the 2023 season “absolutely” affected this year’s hiring. Bowles, Ryans, Tomlin and McDaniel led their teams to the playoffs.

Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, who is Black, was asked if it’s encouraging to hear about the hiring of more minority head coaches, like his former quarterbacks coach Canales. He responded with a resounding no.

“It’s 2024 and we’re talking about minorities,” Smith said. “So, it’s not encouraging. I think we need to step away from that talk and let people be people. But that is another topic.”

Rivera echoed that sentiment.

“What’s happening is it’s becoming more common,” Rivera said of the growing number of minority hires. “There are enough good coaches now to start saying, ‘Hey, let’s call everyone head coaches, not necessarily minority head coaches.’”