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Lack of Diversity in Football Coaches - W&J Students Respond

Emree Downey & Sofia Jenkins Red & Black Staff Writers

Throughout the history of the National Football League (NFL), and many other professional sports, the lack of diversity has been an issue that needs to be addressed. Last week, Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, made a statement saying that the NFL has fallen short in history on hiring Black head coaches, and he is looking into why they have not hired more. Of the nine openings in this cycle of head coach hiring, only two of them were people of color. One W&J student, Nolan Rehrig, believes that there is, “actually more diversity in college athlete coaches than in professional sports.”

With the Superbowl coming up, this topic has been the forefront of the discussion other than the game itself. Among Goodell’s constant run of press conferences recently, almost every single one brings up the problem of lack of diversity in NFL coaches, and specifically, the recent discrimination lawsuit filed by Brian Flores. Flores, former Miami Dolphins head coach, filed a discrimination lawsuit saying that teams were not taking his interviews seriously and that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was pushing him to purposefully lose games to get a better draft pick and paying him $100,000 per loss. As anyone can see, this is a very extreme issue. When Goodell is asked about his thoughts about the lawsuit, he said these accusations were “very disturbing” and that they are going to “look further into it.” But we know of nothing being done to resolve this issue yet, as well as the issue of lack of diversity.

This is an issue that is not only occurring in the NFL. We see this lack of diversity in our everyday lives and we very rarely see things being done to fill the gap. We not only see this lack of diversity with people of color, but we also see gender gaps in prominent roles all over our country. Ava Smith chimed in on this notion and claims that, “in men’s sports, maybe women don’t want to be coaches. I know I wouldn’t.” We have made great strides in recent years trying to fill the occupational gaps in different types of jobs, but we still have a long way to go.

Courtesy Norm Hall, Getty Images,

Assistant coach Jennifer King of the Arizona Hotshots during warmups before a game at Sun Devil Stadium on March 24, 2019 in Tempe, Arizona.