A couple of weeks after the close of the National Football League’s regular season, there is just one Black head coach and one Latino head coach left in the League – Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team, respectively. This follows the firing of Brian Flores by the Miami Dolphins and David Culley by the Houston Texans.

In other words, in a league in which most of the players are Black, 30 of the 32 NFL head coaches are white.

I have studied diversity and inclusion in sport for more than two decades, including the ways in which race and gender intersect to affect leadership opportunities for women and men. My research shows that biased decision-making, organizational cultures that value similarity, and societal forms of bias and discrimination are all to blame for the lack of diversity among NFL head coaches.

History of exclusion

The dismal numbers are nothing new. In 1989, Art Shell became the first Black head coach of an NFL team in the modern era. But his hiring did not break down the barriers other minority coaches face in the NFL.

Read full story at The Conversation:
https://theconversation.com/why-30-out-of-32-nfl-head-coaches-are-white-behind-the-nfls-abysmal-record-on-diversity-174833

Image Credits:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pittsburgh-steelers-head-coach-mike-tomlin-walks-the-news-photo/1358511025?adppopup=true