It was less than three months ago at the Indianapolis J.W. Marriott, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Hall of Famer Tony Dungy were hearing the same things that so many others have heard the last few years.
Before them was a group of seven assistant coaches and seven executive scouting types who had interviewed for head coaching and general manager positions the month before. Male. Female. White. Black. And all had a similar feeling for why their efforts to land their dreams jobs had fallen sort. Which, really, matched the feelings of so many others who weren’t in the room on that cold winter day.
“What we did was have a larger conversation about the hiring process, and how you can achieve that head coach or GM position and some of the challenges the people had,” said Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. “And it was very clear. We had two candidates that had gotten several interviews during the last cycle for head coach that said, ‘We found it very difficult to have that conversation for a head coach position with an owner that I’ve never met, that I have zero relationship with, and I’m trying to get them to know me, my philosophy and how I lead in a very short period of time.’
“They found it very, very difficult. And we heard that on the coaching side, and it was the exact same story on the front office side as well.”
This result of that conversation, and so many others, will be manifested next week.
NFL owners will convene Monday for their annual spring meeting, and this one will have more meaning than most. The normal gaggle of team owners, executives and league office types will be in Atlanta, at a posh Buckhead hotel for the summit, but so too will be a group of 63 participants—three from the league office, and 60 from the teams—for what Park Ave. has billed as the inaugural NFL Coach and Front Office Accelerator Program.
In short, as Beane said, the idea is the product of how a lot of coaches and scouts have felt after falling short in the interview process over the last few years, as the NFL approached a flash point in its efforts to diversify its head coach and GM ranks. In 2019, five of eight head coaches fired were Black, and just one of eight of those openings was filled by a Black coach. Since, just five of 20 openings have gone to coaches of color, keeping the NFL’s overall number low (five: Mike Tomlin, Mike McDaniel, Lovie Smith, Ron Rivera and Robert Saleh).
And while the NFL’s made more progress on the GM front—five of 12 openings over the last two cycles have gone to candidates of color—the lack of headway on the coaching front was enough to push Goodell and the league office to get more aggressive.
The meeting in February in Indy was about finding the right way to do it, and on Monday, 63 rising stars in the profession will reap the benefits. Or that’s at least the hope here.
In this week’s GamePlan, we’re going to explain what that’s going to look like.
