By: Taryn Winston
Exactly one week ago, on Jan. 21, 2013, millions of individuals across the country and the world gathered outside of the United States Capitol building – jackets on, warm coffee in hand – to witness the second inauguration of Barack Obama, our nation’s first African American President. Adding even more significance, the public ceremony took place on a day named for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., perhaps the most well-known and celebrated Civil Rights activist.
A little less than a week from today, on February 3, 2013, millions of individuals across the country and the world will gather in front of their high-definition televisions – speakers on, cold beer in hand – to witness Super Bowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. Adding a little more meaning, this year’s game features two head coaching brothers, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and San Francisco’s Jim Harbaugh, (hence, the “HarBowl”).
Interestingly enough, even as we honored the legacy of one of our nation’s greatest Civil Rights leaders as in a symbolic step towards racial equality, a relatively quiet yet significant setback continues to hinder our efforts towards advancement. The focus of the Super Bowl coverage has been dominated by the two opposing head coaches and the retirement of Ray Lewis. However, it is worth pointing out that one of the game’s assistant coaches, Baltimore’s Jim Caldwell, is just one of two African American offensive coordinators in the NFL today. Even further beyond the Super Bowl, of the eight head coaching positions and seven general manager positions that were made available at the end of the NFL season, all fifteen were filled by white men. This statistic is astonishing, especially considering that 65 percent of its players are African American.
Many will argue that these statistics are merely coincidental. They’ll argue that NFL owners and team presidents are simply “hiring the best candidate they can find”
without paying mind to the race or ethnicity of their potential candidates. But as many others acknowledge, this certainly (and unfortunately) is not and has not always been the case. As Yahoo! Sports football writer Mike Silver stated bluntly, “I know some of you don’t want to be bothered with such inconvenient truths and would rather believe that every NFL owner (and/or individual with hiring power) is a color-blind, ultra-competitive beacon of nobility who is simply trying to find the best man for the job. Just know that in my world, the evidence isn’t so easily dismissed, and a lot of very qualified and proficient men are baffled at the way the NFL seems to be regressing as we enter the early stages of the 21st century.” Not exactly great news for a country devoted to racial and social equality.
To their credit, the NFL acknowledged the racial disparity in hiring and implemented the Dan Rooney Rule in 2003. Similar to affirmative action, the rule requires NFL teams to interview minority head coaching and general manager candidates. The rule has undoubtedly contributed to the growth in African American hires; three years after the rule was established, the percentage of African Americans head coaches grew from 6 percent to 22 percent. However, as time has elapsed, many fear that NFL owners and executives have discovered “loopholes” to get out of complying with the Rooney Rule. For one thing, the Rooney Rules does not apply to offensive and defensive coordinators. Consequently, numerous African American assistants are overlooked and ignored in comparison with their white counterparts, who are increasingly receiving promotions to become coordinators. Secondly, NFL owners can appoint future head coaches before their current head coach departs from the team, essentially forgoing the entire search process. And finally (and most shockingly), many NFL owners and executives fulfill the Rooney Rule requirement by purposefully interviewing unqualified African American candidates who have no obvious shot at receiving the position.
Some might say, “does the racial makeup of NFL coaches and general managers even matter?” Surely, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his “I Have A Dream” speech in August of 1963, the equality and fairness of NFL coaching positions was not exactly his top priority. Yet at a time when our country is under the leadership of our very first African American president, and a time where equality for all Americans has become a right and a priority, it is shocking and disappointing to see how far the NFL currently lags behind. This racial disparity is not a consequence of NFL teams hiring “the best man for the job”; it is a result of the ongoing racial discrimination in the hiring process. And if the NFL is ever to move forward, the loopholes in the Rooney Rule must be closed and the attitudes of the NFL owners and executives must come to align with the rest of the United States.
This Sunday, as we come together with our friends and fellow Americans and enjoy arguably the greatest sporting event in our country, we must ask ourselves: Isn’t it time that “America’s Game” catch up with the rest of America?
