Martin Luther King Jr. Would Chastise NFL For Shameful Attitude Toward Black Head Coaches

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – JANUARY 06: Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts to a play … [+] in the fourth quarter of a game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on January 06, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

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Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans were the only Black head coaches this season in the NFL, and their teams all reached the playoffs.

Not only that, but Ryans did the unfathomable by spending his first year running an NFL team obliterating the Cleveland Browns Saturday in the Wild Card round of the playoffs with a rookie quarterback.

So, for those who didn’t get it 36 years ago when I wrote the following in a series of columns for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution after that Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend, I’ll mention it again.

Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder exposed modern racism.

Snyder was the popular Las Vegas bookmaker who appeared during the 1970s on “The NFL Today” for CBS. The network whacked him in January 1988 within days after he had a few cocktails before telling a local TV crew in Washington D.C. during MLK Jr. Weekend that Blacks were bred from slavery to become superior athletes courtesy of mamas with big thighs or something.

With the cameras still rolling, this was closer to why CBS fired Snyder: He basically said the lack of Blacks doing anything in the NFL beyond blocking and tackling was wonderful. He suggested it was done on purpose by league decision makers, and then he declared if Blacks “take coaching, as I think everyone wants them to, there is not going to be anything left for the white people.”

NEW YORK – JANUARY 1: Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder and Brent Musburger on “N.F.L. Today,” on the CBS … [+] Sports television network. Circa 1979 (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

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In essence, Jimmy The Greek said modern racism is the fear of “the white people” in a rapidly increasing diverse world facing the possibility of losing their jobs fair and square to the dark people.

Well, to Black people, in particular.

That’s when modern racism uses mind games to suggest something like the reason there aren’t that many NFL Black head coaches is because they can’t do the job.

Then along comes this season when the only three Black head coaches in the league all make the playoffs.

Nice try with the mind games.

As for this MLK Jr. Weekend, let’s combine Jimmy The Greek, modern racism and a quote from The Drum Major for Justice himself.

The quote applies to the NFL, where the 22-year-old Rooney Rule says (OK, recommends, but ever so gently) that teams with head coaching vacancies should use “a fair and square” approach when considering Black candidates.

The quote comes from Dr. King’s “I’ve been to the mountain top” speech on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, and here’s the quote: “All we say to America is, ‘Be true to what you said on paper.’”

The NFL hasn’t done so — not regarding the hiring of Black head coaches.

As a result, the league could lose a chunk of its $19 billion in total revenue from the 2022 season (or from whatever it made in previous seasons or from this one, for that matter) to a Brian Flores lawsuit. It was triggered in February 2022 when he sued the NFL — along with the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins — within weeks after the Dolphins fired him as head coach following three seasons of mostly goodness (5-11, 10-6, 9-8).

That topped a decade of mostly ugliness for the Dolphins (one winning season during the previous 10 years).

Flores gave his blow by blow for why he thought his dismissal from the Dolphins was less than admirable, and he added the NFL was “rife with racism” regarding the hiring and promotion of Black coaches.

Federal judge Valerie Caproni agreed.

She even reemphasized in July 2023 what she ruled four months earlier, which was a trial against the NFL and racism charges could proceed involving Flores and the three Black assistant coaches who joined the lawsuit.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – AUGUST 19: Defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings … [+] celebrates against the Tennessee Titans in the second half during a preseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium on August 19, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Titans defeated the Vikings 24-16. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

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Caproni said in her original ruling in March 2023 that the NFL’s “long history of systematic discrimination toward Black players, coaches, and managers — are incredibly troubling.” Then she said of a league with 70% Black players among its 32 teams, “Although the clear majority of professional football players are Black, only a tiny percentage of coaches are Black.”

It remained tiny, even when New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft promoted Jerod Mayo last week from linebackers coach to head coach after Bill Belichick left the franchise with his six Super Bowl rings.

That said, the number of Black NFL coaches could jump from three at the end of this regular season to four after the Mayo move to five this week if owner Mark Davis does the right thing with his Las Vegas Raiders by hiring Antonio Pierce.

All Pierce did this season following his promotion from linebackers coach to interim guy with the Raiders was win five of the team’s last nine games while creating sparks inside players that became infernos.

Davis even told ESPN.com, “Yeah, I think the team really played well down the stretch, and I think going 4-2 in the division is really a positive for us.”

So hire him, Mark.

According to NFL.com, Raiders All-Pro pass rusher Maxx Crosby said he’ll even seek a trade if Pierce isn’t named the full-time guy.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 01: Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank on the field prior to the game … [+] against the Arizona Cardinals at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 01, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)

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And what’s the deal with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, a member of the NFL’s diversity committee since its inception in 2002? Nevertheless, he has never had a full-time Black head coach in a metropolitan area that became majority nonwhite for the first time in August 2021.

Atlanta also is the birthplace of Dr. King.

Which makes this glaring: Blank has hired five NFL head coaches during his more than two decades with the franchise, and all were white.

Now Blank has another opening.

Will he hire his first Black head coach?

Is it time?

What about the other NFL owners needing a head coach (the Carolina Panthers, the Washington Commanders, the Tennessee Titans, the Seattle Seahawks, the Los Angeles Chargers and the Raiders)?

Is it also time for those teams to get a Black head coach — either their first one or just another one?

Which brings us to another Dr. King quote, and it involves time, of course. It comes from his last Sunday sermon when he took the pulpit on March 31, 1968 at the Washington National Cathedral: “Time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. So we must have time and realize that the time is always right to do right.”

The time is now to do right against modern racism.

Even in the NFL.