Despite an NFL-record 10 head coaching vacancies entering this offseason hiring cycle, none were filled by a Black head coach. The issue of minority hiring in the NFL has once again made national headline news.
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Rob Parker Predicted Black Coaches Would Be Shut Out Of 10 NFL Openings
FS1 radio host Rob Parker predicted early on in the process that no Black coach would be hired out of all of the openings. He also scolded other media members for not taking NFL owners to task for what appears to be more examples of systemic racism.
“It looks like NO Black coaches will be hired with 10 NFL HC openings. A disgrace.
In the NFL, peeps – including all the say-alot-but-really-say-nothing Black NFL analysts on TV – simply ignore this issue, turn a blind eye.”
Minority Head Coaches Peaked At Eight In 2017
That was early in the cycle. Parker’s premonition has now come to pass. Los Angeles Rams Offensive Coordinator Mike Loffler was the final hire and is now the hew head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. That means we will begin the 2025-26 NFL season with DeMeco Ryans (Texans), Todd Bowles (Buccaneers) and Aaron Glenn (Jets) as the only Black head coaches in a 32-team league. Robert Saleh, who is Lebanese American, was the only minority coach deemed worthy of an opportunity.
That’s crazy for a league where Black players reportedly make up roughly 70 percent of the rosters.
Since the league’s inception it’s been an uphill battle for Black coaches. The peak for the sport as it pertains to Black head coaches was in 2017 with seven.
Baltimore Ravens All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton spoke about the issue in February 2025, and he kept short and sweet.
“Networking and nepotism. For Black people it’s an uphill battle.”
Washington Commanders star Terry McLaurin noticed the pattern as he continued to advance to the next level.
“Now that you mention it,” McLaurin said, “I’ve never had a Black head coach in high school, college or the NFL. Coordinators and position coaches only.”
“You can’t just overlook that discrepancy,” McLaurin said. “Obviously, you want the best candidate for the job, whether it’s someone who is Black, white, Asian or whoever. However, when you have a big representation of African-American players that are in your league, you would like to see that represented in coaching, as well.”
So the players acknowledge it. The media sometimes acknowledges it. But the owners just refuse to. The tired narratives about hiring the best capable candidate and the disrespect shown towards the Rooney Rule and the reason why it exists in the first place continues. We have been writing these articles for over two decades and what’s really changed?
Clinton Yates Joins ABC News To Talk Black NFL Coaching Hires
ESPN’s Clinton Yates joined ABC News to discuss the old and alarming trend in hiring, and he was asked why the rules that were set in place to avoid whitewashing of the head coaching position more than 20 years ago, haven’t worked. If you look at the NFL head coaching numbers, there’s the same number of coaches today that there were in 2003.
Yates says the Rooney Rule can easily be circumvented because at the end of the day owners have a preconceived notion of what they are looking for when it comes to leadership.
“The (Rooney) Rule is not going to help you with what is effectively human nature,” Yates said. “If you look at how the different things develop; where guys come from as coaches, how they’re looked at by their owners and most specifically how many opportunities they are given to fail before they have a chance. That’s where things fall off the most.”
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Black NFL Coaches Who Get Hired, Get The Quick Hook
Yates mentioned an old theme when it comes to the NFL and minority hiring. Those Black coaches who are hired, seem to get the quick hook.
Over 25 seasons from 2000 through 2024, an AP count shows, 31 of 173 new NFL coaches — 18% — are Black. In that same span, eight of the 19 head coaches — 42% — fired after their first full season are Black.
Yates continued:
“You look at the former coach of the New England Patriots, who are now in the Super Bowl, Jerod Mayo. He got fired after one season. Exactly…guys like that often don’t get another chance…Meanwhile you have other guys who get chances over and over and over again.”
Mike Tomlin is truly the exception and it’s another example of how much better he had to be than those other guys to keep his job.
Rich, White Owners, Don’t Have Worldly View On Potential Hires
Yates says whether intentional or unintentional the systemic issue is evident and those who question the qualifications of Black candidates are feeding into comical and outdated narratives. The narrative is fed by the NFL owners’ refusal — or inability — to think outside of the box.
“You’re really telling me that there are only three human beings walking the earth that are capable of being a head coach in the NFL, who are Black folks. That just doesn’t make sense,” Yates said.
“A lot of these owners, frankly, old, rich, billionaire white men, don’t have the world view that a lot of younger people do to make sure they can see somebody as having an opportunity that’s worth taking a shot on.”
The minority hiring saga in the NFL continues.
