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sports Diasabra 4 December 2021

Pipeline: Cascade of white owners has slowed NFL change

(AP) - Over the past 100
years, around 110 people
have owned controlling
portions of NFL teams. Of
that select group, all but
two have been white.

This basic head count might
offer the simplest explana-
tion for how, even with rules
in place for nearly two de-
cades that are designed to im-
prove diversity, the league has
struggled to build a pipeline
for bringing Blacks and other
minorities into coaching and
front-office positions.

The lead investigator for the
latest NFL Inclusion and
Diversity Report gives a nod
to the less-than-satisfying
nature of the numbers in
that report by leading off his
opening message with the
reminder: “Progress is a pro- and inclusion in the NFL “There was backlash for sure, same, and Harrison points ed the Fritz Pollard Alliance,
cess.” mirrors that in America it- but why are they running to other academic studies which, according to its web-
self. It’s more complex than Gruden out of a job when that conclude the impact of site, “exists to champion di-
In 2021, the process pro- simply saying owners have they allowed McNair to op- biased behavior does add up versity in the National Foot-
duced these statistics: Black long been more comfortable erate just fine and he passed over time. ball League,” said the league
players make up about 70% hiring people who looked the team down?” Weems office is not to blame for the
of team rosters but the league and talked like them, though said. “It’s indicative of a larg- “In the context of the NFL, systemic diversity issues in
has only three Black head that certainly could be one er culture.” African Americans and other the NFL.
coaches, while it had eight in element in play in a league human beings of color pay
2011; Black coaches who fail that didn’t hire a single Black Jaguars owner Shad Khan, their dues, and when it ap- “It’s the owners,” Mehri said,
in their first try in the jobs head coach between Fritz one of the league’s two mi- pears to be their turn it is of- in a quote embedded in the
get inordinately fewer sec- Pollard in the 1920s and Art nority owners, said he was ten a white coach hired again. diversity and inclusion re-
ond and third chances than Shell in 1989. taken aback when he tried to And again. And again,” he port. “We have spectacular
their white counterparts; the buy a controlling stake in the writes. candidates, and we still have
NFL this year recalibrated “There’s also a matter of who Rams in 2010. decision making (among
its much-celebrated Rooney they think is most market- He used the example of Ur- owners) that’s irrational.”
Rule, which ensures minor- able, who resonates with “I had met some people at ban Meyer’s attempt to hire
ity candidates for front-office their fan base,” said Anthony that time and the apology Chris Doyle as an assistant John Solow, an Iowa profes-
positions are identified and Weems, an a ssistant profes- that went around, the conjec- for the Jaguars as a prime ex- sor who co-wrote a paper on
interviewed, to make sure sor at Florida International ture was, ‘You will never get ample. the Rooney Rule in 2011,
teams talk to at least two such University who wrote a dis- approved because you’re not said that in the universe the
candidates for front-office sertation on NFL owners and white,’” he said. Doyle’s hiring was squelched owners have created, it can
positions and coordinator the social structure they cre- after accusations surfaced be argued that it’s hard to tell
roles. ated over a century. But he said those thoughts about his racist remarks and if Black assistant coaches are
didn’t match up with the bullying of players during his being discriminated against
Academics who study the “Over time, a lot of these reality. He moved on from 22 years at the University of because, compared to whites
subject say the latest set of owners are the same people, the Rams and ended up buy- Iowa. in the same positions, there
underwhelming numbers, or the teams got passed down ing the Jaguars in 2011, and haven’t been enough of them
along with the latest set of in the family. So it’s almost paints a much more optimis- That episode illustrated what over the years to do a truly
changes implemented in an like, ‘Why would things have tic picture about NFL own- many people see as one core scientific study on the issue.
attempt to improve them, are changed if the actual players erships’ relation to race. problem in the NFL’s diversi-
in line with the century-long in those positions haven’t ty issue: A century’s worth of For instance, between 2012-
history of a league that has changed?’” Weems said. “I think the league is at the white owners have built a sys- 2021, whites were hired
been controlled by rich white forefront and they’re going to tem in which white coaches for 168 of the 219 (76%)
men. The professors agree that it be doing more,” Khan said. and leaders get far more sec- open coordinator positions,
was no surprise earlier this “And my being in the middle, ond and third chances, while which are considered the
“To understand this problem, year to see the racist emails yes, I’ve seen a change.” Black coaches are harder to top launching pads for head-
you have to look at it from that surfaced between Jon find and don’t have as many coaching jobs. That almost
a broader macro-historical Grude n and former Wash- In a short essay that accom- chances to fail. For instance, mirrors the hiring pattern for
lens,” said John Singer, who ington executive Bruce Al- panied the latest diversity since 1963, 15 white coaches head coaches: Whites have
teaches courses on diversity len. Also not shocking, but and inclusion report, lead in- have been given a third head- been tabbed for 51 of the 62
and social justice in sports far less spotlighted, was the vestigator C. Keith Harrison coaching job, compared to openings (82%) since 2012.
at Texas A&M. “It goes back scenario that played out in writes about the academic zero coaches of color. (The
to an old-boys network. It’s 2017 when Texans owner topic of attribution bias, report says Tom Flores was “But then, you have to go
an informal system in which Bob McNair said “We can’t which, he explains, are errors the lone coach to be afforded back a step and say ‘Why
wealthy men, particularly have the inmates running the made when trying to explain a third chance, but authors aren’t there (more) Black as-
wealthy white men with prison.” why people make decisions did not respond to The As- sistant coaches?’” Solow said.
social and economic back- they make. It undercuts the sociated Press when it asked “And then you ask ‘Was there
grounds, help each other McNair apologized and said idea that, for instance, all what the third job was. Flores discrimination?’ And we
out.” he hadn’t been speaking decisions made by a largely coached the Raiders and Se- couldn’t really find any. But
about the players. When he white group of owners might ahawks.) we also couldn’t really find
In many ways, the academ- died in 2018, ownership of be based solely on race. any evidence that the Rooney
ics say, the arc of diversity the team passed to his wife. Still, the results remain the Cyrus Mehri, who co-found- Rule was working.”