‘The NFL Should Be Ashamed:’ Sports Agency Blasts League for ‘Zero Black Coach Hires’

A major sports agency is blasting the NFL on Martin Luther King Day, for not hiring any black coaches to fill any of the several recent vacancies.

Goal Line Football, an agency that represents NFL players and coaches, took the league to task in an MLK Day tweet in which they say the NFL should be “ashamed” for their lack of diversity in hiring.

On MLK Day…the @NFL should be ashamed that…at this point with only 2 jobs remaining (one after Eagles hire JM) … zero black coach hires or even 2nd interviews. No coaches coaching in conference championship games are currently connected to either of these 2 jobs.

— Goal Line Football (@GoalineFootball) January 18, 2021

The tweet overstates the case a bit. The Houston Texans, one of the two remaining open jobs (the Eagles haven’t officially hired Josh McDaniels yet) have an interview scheduled with Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy, who is black.

However, the broader point that no black head coaches have yet been hired in this particular cycle is true.

The Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Los Angeles Chargers, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, and Jacksonville Jaguars, all fired their head coaches by the end of the regular season. Except for the Texans and the Eagles, the two teams who still have vacancies, all of those teams hired coaches who aren’t black. Robert Saleh, the former 49ers defensive coordinator who is was hired as the Jets’ new head coach, is of Lebanese descent. The rest of the hires were white.

The NFL’s Rooney Rule requires that all teams interview at least one minority candidate for a coaching or coordinator position. All teams complied with the Rooney Rule, though, none were hired.

Eric Bienemy was the favored option of Texans QB Deshaun Watson. However, after initially declining to interview Bienemy, the Texans eventually requested an interview.