Diversity Issues in the NFL

In recent studies done regarding the National Football League, researchers have found that the league is not nearly as diverse as it claims to be. Every year, the league produces a public diversity report to ensure consumers that the league is working towards creating a diverse community.

While the league currently has over 70% minority players on NFL rosters, the leadership of the league is far from this statistic. In 2020, the league had 31 opening for head coaches, general managers, and offensive coordinators. Of those 31 positions, only 7 people of color were hired to fill those positions. Also, since the start of 2012 until the articles date in 2020, only nine people of color had been hired to be head coaches. Only three of those nine coaches remained head coaches when the article was written, Brian Flores, Anthony Lynn, and Ron Rivera. As of today, Anthony Lynn was fired as the head coach of the Chargers following the 2020 NFL season. Ron Rivera was also fired by the Carolina Panthers but was immediately hired as the head coach of the Washington Football Team the same offseason. In this recent offseason, seven new head coaches were hired by NFL teams. Only two of the coaches, Robert Saleh of the Jets, and David Culley of the Texans, are of non-white decent.

New York Jets Head Coach Robert Saleh

Perhaps the most surprising of the coaches hired in the offseason was that after a second time making his way through the "coaching carousel", Eric Bieniemey was not hired as a head coach. Eric Bieniemy, an African American coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, has been widely regarded as one of the best offensive minds in the sport after spending the last eight years on future Hall of Fame coach, Andy Reid's, coaching staff. Bieniemy is credited with the development of the league's best quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, and won the Super Bowl as the offensive coordinator of the Chiefs in 2019. If anyone is deserving of a head coaching job in the NFL, it is Eric Bieniemy. However, coaches with far less experience and credentials have found themselves in head coaching positions before Bieniemy. This could be for reasons outside of skin color or cultural background. However, it is increasingly frustrating, as a fan of the NFL, to see a man so deserving, be continuously passed over. He probably does not mind all that much. After all, he runs the most explosive offensive in football with the best quarterback in the league at the helm. The Chiefs are expected to be Super Bowl contenders for years to come. Much of this credit is due to Coach Bieniemy's development of Mahomes, who plays the most important position in the sport.

Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy

With evident statistics, the league clearly needs to revisit how they approach diversity. They have advanced women in many different positions among the league, such as, coaches, executives, and officials. However, there is still work to be done. The Rooney Rule is a rule that the league put into effect in 2003. This rule mandates that NFL organizations interview at least one or more diverse candidates for their head coaching vacancies. As of now, this rule has not yielded its intended results as the number of minority head coaches, while has increased, is still incredibly low.

Hopefully in the future, this becomes less of an issue. For the league's sake, and the sake of qualified people of color and women looking to break barriers in the most popular sport in America.

Reference

https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2020/06/17/studies-show-that-the-nfl-is-not-as-diverse-as-it-wants-you-to-think/