There are six Black head coaches entering 2024 — Morris, Mayo, Pierce, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles and Houston’s DeMeco Ryans — which doubles the number from the 2023 season. The other minority coaches are Canales, who is Mexican American, Miami’s multiracial Mike McDaniel and Robert Saleh of the New York Jets, who is Lebanese.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The National Football League has urged teams for years to hire more minority head coaches.
That mission finally seems to be paying off.
Four minority head coaches have been hired this year, including
According to the institute’s 2023 racial and gender report, two-thirds of the league (66.7%) consists of players who are minorities, with 53.5% being Black. Those percentages don’t reflect the percentage of minority and Black head coaches.
But progress is being made.
There are six Black head coaches entering 2024 — Morris, Mayo, Pierce, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles and Houston’s DeMeco Ryans — which doubles the number from the 2023 season. The other minority coaches are Canales, who is Mexican American, Miami’s multiracial Mike McDaniel and Robert Saleh of the New York Jets, who is Lebanese.
Rivera believes the success of existing minority head coaches in the 2023 season “absolutely” impacted the number of minority hires this year. Bowles, Ryans, Tomlin and McDaniel all led their teams to the playoffs.
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, who is Black, was asked if it is encouraging to hear about the hiring of more minority head coaches, such as his former quarterbacks coach Canales. He answered with a resounding no.
“It’s 2024 and we are talking about minorities,” Smith said. “So, it’s not encouraging. I think we have to get away from that talk and let people be people. But that’s another topic right there.”
Rivera echoed that sentiment.
“What is happening is it is becoming more mainstream,” Rivera said of the increasing number of minority hires. “There are enough good coaches now where we can start saying, ‘Hey, let’s just call everybody a head coach, not necessarily minority head coach.’”
