There has been a sort of fake-like excitement about the recent firings of a few NFL coaches and the possibility of a few of those positions being filled by a person of color. Hold your horses, NAACP, SNCC, Rainbow Coalition, and the rest of the purveyors of the false narrative of equal rights. I wouldn’t celebrate too prematurely if I were you. The first two possible hires being discussed to be employed by franchises that currently have head coaching openings are two coaches whose characters over time have displayed a few problems in their “armor of morality.”
It appears that if the skin of candidates applying for a head coaching job available in the NFL doesn’t contain an overabundance of melanin, they will almost certainly get a second, third, and even fourth shot to be a headmaster in the league. One of the primary candidates being considered for employment as an NFL head coach for the 2024 season is current Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh was allegedly involved in stealing sign violations and was suspended for multiple games. However, Harbaugh can be considered a “junior cheater” when he is compared with the other more popular candidates looking to land a coaching gig in the NFL. The latest individual to jump on the coaching carousel is none other than possibly the all-time king of cheaters, ex-Patriots head man Bill Belichick. Belichick is the frontrunner for the vacant head coaching job of the Atlanta Falcons. It seems appropriate that Mr. Belichick may be headed toward the “Peach State” because as usual, whatever he does and whatever his won-loss record may be, everything remains peachy keen for him.
According to cbssports.com, “Bill Belichick met with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank in person for a second interview, but sources caution that any potential deal with one of the greatest coaches of all time is not a done deal at this time.
Belichick first met with Blank on Jan. 15, on Blank’s yacht near the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to one league source. His second interview with the former Patriots head coach involved Blank, team CEO Rich McKay, team president Greg Beadles and general manager Terry Fontenot, per multiple sources.”
This is incredible, I mean wow! You have an NFL owner, possibly wooing a coach accused on multiple levels, deflating footballs, and illegally recording the signals and formations of the opposition. Yet, this owner is pursuing this coach with zeal that has little or possibly no morality or values when it comes to competing fairly. Kind of shows us the moral compass that this owner may be using to guide the future of his franchise.
All of you Black, brown, and progressive White folks might as well forget the “let’s pretend” to act like we’re actively considering hiring coaches of color. Also, ya better quit singing songs of equality. Those songs are written and being sung in the key of “ignore.” We shall overcome, oh really. This may be an appropriate communique to usher in Black History Month. Remember the popular song, “Movin’ On Up’” recorded by the late Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions? The following is an excerpt from the lyrics to that song. “We’ll just keep on pushin’ like your leaders tell you to. At last that blessed day has come, and I don’t care where you come from. We’re all movin’ on up. Lord have mercy, we’re movin’ on up.”
A USA TODAY Sports analysis of 79 father-son connections found that “nearly half (37) of the sons got their first NFL jobs on the same staffs as their fathers. The analysis also revealed that, on average, a son will spend 34.4 percent of his NFL coaching career on the same staff as his father. League executives say nepotism is one of the factors that inhibits diverse hiring. Coaching trees sprout, and that can results in coaches with the same name being hired over and over again.”
“That’s a tight-knit fraternity, with nepotism and all of those things coming at play,” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s really hard to crack in those rooms.”
Would it be too outlandish to assume that some inside information about certain open coaching positions might be available to some but not to others? Please don’t be irritated with me because I am not as optimistic as some folks.
The Lord is always going to be merciful. However, it remains to be seen if the NFL powers-that-be will exhibit those same tendencies of mercy. From what I can observe, professional football is a cutthroat and often bloodthirsty business with no room for the weakness of morality. As far as many people are concerned, the dignity of the “Rooney Rule” has been diluted and in many cases has been almost totally ignored or at the very least, pushed to the backburner. Maybe the new equality theme song should be the old theme song of the Pittsburgh Pirates, “We Are Family,” a song recorded by the R&B group Sister Sedge. The song was made popular by Willie “Pops” Stargell. The original lyrics were, “We are family, I got all my sisters and me.”
As far as the head coaching jobs in the NFL are concerned, I have a new twist on the lyrics of the song that goes something like this. “We are the head coaching tree, I got all my sons, grandsons, brothers, nephews, cousins, and me.”
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