Diversity is the NFL’s Greatest Allergy
You have to be twice as good…
Most minorities can finish that quote without a second thought. It’s a phrase passed down to generations as a reminder of how rough the road is, especially in your professional life.
It’s a quote I’m sure Duce Staley is whispering to himself in this moment.
I get it. You’re probably taking a deep sigh and complaining about “another” race article.
Listen. Race and how if affects minorities is uncomfortable but I’m assuming you’re an adult. You’re big enough to have an adult conversation without squirming.
Keep going, you’ll be fine. I promise.
Last week the Eagles hired Nick Sirianni as their head coach. The Colts offensive coordinator was one of many people Philadelphia spoke to after firing Doug Pederson on January 11.
Duce Staley was one of those names.
The former Eagles running back has been on staff since 2010 and survived three coaching regimes. Starting off as a special teams quality control coach Duce leaves Philadelphia as the running backs and assistant head coach. He will have the same title on the Detroit Lions staff.
Current and former Eagles players endorsed Duce and by all accounts had a great interview and came prepared with a staff that was impressive.
Let’s point out that McDaniels is STILL getting interviewed for head coaching gigs after reneging on the Colts job. Switch his name with Byron Leftwich. Would the NFL still be calling if he did something similar?
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At his press conference following Pederson’s firing Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie had an interesting quote about diversity and finding top minority talent.
Read that quote again. Now see those words in action.
It should be noted that Juan Castillo was the defensive coordinator during Andy Reid’s last year in Philadelphia. He was fired during the season and Todd Bowles took over as the interim DC. He was dismissed for Billy Davis when Chip Kelly was hired that offseason.
This isn’t a shot to Sirianni or his staff. These people could lead the Eagles to their second Lombardi and more.
It’s a shot at what they represent and how much easier it was for them to reach the next level of their careers.
Whenever the public and the media talk about Sirianni it’s framed in a way that paints his inexperience as a positive. His potential is highlighted and he’s given the space to “grow” into this position.
When that conversation is about Duce it’s framed to highlight what he hasn’t done or what he can’t do.
Why doesn’t Staley get the same rose-colored glasses as Nick?
Now there are some who will say that Duce had the opportunity to be the offensive coordinator a couple of years ago and that’s true. Pederson did offer him that position but it didn’t come with play-calling duties; that still belonged to Doug. The history of the NFL says that, overall, head coaches need to have play-calling duties at some time in their career before taking the leap to head coach. Without play-calling duties, it was just a title, nothing more.
For the record, Sirianni was the offensive coordinator for the Colts but did not call plays. That was Frank Reich’s job.
When Pederson was sidelined with COVID during training camp Philadelphia turned to Duce as the head coach. Note that Jim Schwartz, who has head coaching experience, was not asked to take this role.
So Duce is good enough to be in charge for a few weeks but not good enough to be in charge in the long run?
By all accounts, it appears that Nick’s interview came out of thin air. So random that he didn’t even have a suit on hand when the Eagles called.
Switch Nick’s name with Todd Bowles. Do you think he’d be getting the same, lighthearted tweet?
But this is a problem that isn’t unique to Staley.
Out of the seven head coaching vacancies this offseason five have been filled by white men. The Jets hired San Francisco’s defensive coordinator Robert Saleh; the first Muslim head coach in NFL history. David Culley, the new head coach for the Texans, was the other minority hire.
Oh yeah. Eric Bieniemy, the guy who has had a major hand in one of the best offenses we’ve ever seen two years in a row is still without a head coaching job.
Jim Caldwell, the former Detroit head coach, also interviewed for the Texans job as well as a name no one expected to see.
You have to be twice as good…
Whenever it’s time to have this conversation the “whataboutism” crowd starts screaming and making false comparisons. We have the time today so let’s take a look at the reasons minority candidates don’t get positions compared to their white counterparts.
Again, this isn’t a shot at these individuals; it’s a reflection of the barriers minority candidates have to jump over to get the same opportunities.
NFL head coaches should have been a coordinator/play caller and at some point in their career.
Nick Sirianni, Dan Campbell, and Urban Meyer have never called plays on the NFL level.
Maybe *insert minority’s name here* just wasn’t ready to be a head coach.
This is the biggest goalpost people use because of its ambiguity. It’s true, not everyone is ready or able to be an NFL coach but is there a reason the black guys aren’t as ready as other candidates?
Well *insert minority’s name here* didn’t interview well and has a questionable past.
Again, Nick Sirianni showed up in a Tommy Bahama shirt and walked out with a head coaching job. That excuse is laughable.
Urban Meyer led a Florida team that had a drug problem and 30 player arrests over six seasons. At Ohio State reports revealed that Meyer knew that one of his assistants, Zach Smith, abused his wife. That cost Meyer a three-game suspension during the 2018 season. Did Urban have to answer to that? Did that information hinder him from getting the Jacksonville job?
Of course not.
Listen to Dan Campbell’s press conference after being hired. You’re trying to tell me this interview was smooth and professional?
*Insert minority’s name here* is too young and doesn’t have a lot of NFL experience.
Brandon Staley (the Chargers new coach) and Nick Sirriani are in their late 30s.
Brandon has three years of NFL experience and Urban has zero.
It should come as a shock to no one but Saleh and Culley have the most NFL experience out of the new hires with 14 and 26 years of NFL coaching experience respectfully.
No one else wanted to interview *insert minority’s name* so he must not be good enough yet.
The Eagles were the only team to interview Sirianni. How many teams outside of Jacksonville were knocking down the door to talk to Urban?
For every excuse a minority hears on why they didn’t get a shot there are five white guys who get to bypass that step and advance their career.
The NFL’s hiring practices have been under fire for decades. That’s a lot of data to rummage through so let’s look at the past five hiring cycles and see how it breaks down. (2017-2021)
Since 2017 there have been 33 NFL head coaching vacancies. Only seven of those jobs have gone to minority candidates (21%).
Overall, the minority coaches averaged 16 years of NFL coaching experience before getting a head coaching job. Their white counterparts averaged 12 years of NFL experience before getting a head coaching opportunity.
Let’s break those numbers down further. If we remove coaches getting their second opportunity (Mike McCarthy, Adam Gase, Jon Gruden, Doug Marrone, and Bruce Arians) the average drops to 10 years of NFL coaching experience.
If we do the same exercise for minority candidates (Ron Rivera) the number for minority candidates is 15 years of NFL coaching experience before getting a head coaching opportunity.
Five out of the seven minority coaches that were hired held a coordinator position and called plays before getting an opportunity as a head coach (71%).
Out of white candidates hired 22 out of the 26 held a coordinator position (85%). Out of those 22 coaches, 20 had playcalling responsibility at the NFL level at some point in their career. (77% out of the entire pool of white coaches.)
The league’s players are 70% black; for what it’s worth.
*This data does not include coaches who served in the interim like Dan Campbell. It’s reflecting coaches that were hired to be the head coach and not replacing someone mid-season. It’s also worth noting that there were three college coaches hired during those five years (Urban Meyer, Matt Rhule, and Kliff Kingsbury) who had a total of one year of NFL coaching experience combined.*
In the grand scheme this isn’t the fault of the guys who are taking these jobs. There are only 32 NFL head coaching gigs in the world so if you have a chance to get one then you absolutely take it, no matter your race.
This goes up to ownership.
The entire world can see the benefits of having a diverse staff but if the folks in charge of hiring don’t see it or don’t care then this is a meaningless exercise.
There’s no version of the Rooney rule or incentive program that will change the owner’s views on the hiring process. It has to start within.
In 2020 after the murder of George Floyd the NFL swore they were listening. They promised to help be the change.
LOL
They just painted “end racisim” in the endzone and made a video of Goodell saying Black Lives Matter.
That’s rich for the league that’s been blackballing Colin Kaepernick since 2017.
The Buccaneers, on the other hand, get it.
I’m not saying that a coach should get a job because they’re black.
Just stop creating different sets of rules and barriers for one group and not the other.
Until the owners hold themselves accountable then we’ll keep having this conversation every offseason until the sun explodes.
I’ll put it in the form of the question: does this time work for you next year?
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@ me madads14
As always, thanks for reading.
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