It shouldn't matter if NFL coaches are black, white, or anything else - Washington Examiner

On the Monday following the final regular season games of the NFL season, many teams fire their underperforming coaches and start searching for upgrades. This year, however, the day has created some racial controversy.

As a result of this purging, four underperforming African-American NFL head coaches lost their jobs: Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks, Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, and New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles. Since the Cleveland Browns fired Hue Jackson midseason, this means the NFL went from seven black head coaches at the start of the season down now to just two, and this has people upset.

The normal NFL coaching firings are always brutal but this year will be particularly bad. The number of black head coaches will drop precipitously. The number of African-Americans in key front office positions will be practically nonexistent. This is a dire time for the sport.
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) December 30, 2018

Not a good look for diversity today in the NFL. In 2006, when Commissioner Goodell was hired, there were seven minority coaches and four minority general managers. Today there are three minority HCs and 1 minority GM after Ozzie retires.
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) December 31, 2018

Black NFL head coaches fired in ‘18: Hue Jackson, Marvin Lewis, Todd Bowles, Steve Wilks, Vance Joseph.
Black NFL head coaches left: Mike Tomlin, Anthony Lynn.
~70% of NFL players are black.
Consistent with America’s workforce: Black ppl carry labor, rarely empowered to lead.
— Master (@MasterTes) December 31, 2018

Like it or not, sports are a meritocracy, and race and diversity are basically nonfactors in the talent-based industry. The coaches weren't fired because they were black, they were fired because their teams were no good. What's more, some of the coaching vacancies may be filled by black coaches. The outrage over a lack of coaches of a certain race is absurd.

The only thing that should matter for an NFL head coach is whether or not they are competent. That's why a pair of African-American coaches who did well this season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, kept their jobs. Their teams had winning seasons; the Steelers went 9-6-1, and the Chargers went 12-4. None of the fired coaches can say the same.

Sports leagues are not meant to be a perfect racial representation of the population. After all, the overwhelming majority of NBA and NFL players are African-American, while most NHL players are white. Is it an issue that the NBA was 74.3 percent black during the 2015-2016 season and the NFL was 69.7 percent black in 2016? How about that the NHL was nearly 93 percent white during the 2010-2011 season? Should leagues force teams to sign more “underrepresented” groups (more whites into the NFL and NBA or more blacks into the NHL) so the rosters are more diverse?

Any sane person can see how ridiculous that sounds. Teams want the best talent possible. This is why Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey bucked Major League Baseball’s color barrier and was willing to sign a pair of Hall of Famers in Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella as well as 1956 Cy Young Award winner Don Newcombe. It’s also why every MLB team had signed at least one black player by 1959: Being racist and refusing to add talent is a terrible business strategy.

It’s also worth noting playing in the NFL is not a prerequisite for being a head coach ( 81 percent did not as of 2014). Former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley (2009-2011) never played football at all.

All that matters to teams is success on the field without problems off the field. Whether that means there are two black head coaches in the NFL or 32, skin color should not be the focus. Results matter. Race does not.

Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.

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