The NFL merry-go-round for Black coaches is an embarrassment that must end

I have been intrigued by the NFL playoffs and fascinated by the league-sponsored commercials that feature African Americans speaking about the need for equal access and social justice.

The irony of the commercials is that one of the great injustices is taking place within the very league that supports these messages. I’m talking about the NFL’s chronic failure to consistently hire African Americans as head coaches.

This failing illuminates the league’s enormous challenge as it assumes the daunting task of leveling the playing field when it comes to hiring Black coaches. The task involves overcoming decades of systemic racism, exclusion, entitlement, and privilege. As the new hiring cycle begins and teams look to fill eight coaching vacancies, the NFL has hit a new low: Only one of the league’s 32 teams has a Black head coach.

I have written about this issue for decades and compared notes with colleagues. The names have changed, but the system has not. Indeed, covering the NFL’s racial blind spot has become an annual ritual, one that highlights the league’s unique ability to compartmentalize: It can support social justice initiatives even as it maintains a strict, predominantly white hierarchy that runs the league.

The reality is that the NFL’s coaching cycle is like a merry-go-round. If the pattern holds to form, one, two, maybe three Black coaches will be hired during the current hiring cycle. In a future cycle, the number may go up to seven. Then in a few years, the number will shrink to three or four. In the meantime, there will be numerous conversations and committees bringing owners and players together to solve every problem but their own.

There are myriad complex dimensions to the hiring issue, but it boils down to white owners and executives refusing to tap into an ever-expanding Black talent pool. Instead, they hire men who look like them and with whom they feel comfortable. Meanwhile, the teams make one mistake after another. And getting it wrong costs money. According to a former NFL executive, failed hires cost the league an estimated $100 million a year in salaries that must be paid. The Urban Meyer debacle in Jacksonville cost the organization an estimated $60 million.

That number will likely increase with the latest rash of firings. So, how do we stop this merry-go-round, dismantle the contraption, and put it out of commission? Eventually, this will happen.