Consider This from NPR - Why the NFL (Still) Has a Diversity Problem

Episode Date: February 4, 2023

Football is the most watched sport in the US - and one of the most profitable. The NFL reported that last year, the Super Bowl was watched by two-thirds of Americans. But for some, the popularity and success of the sport are overshadowed by its continuing problems around race - from its handling of players kneeling in protest against the killing of unarmed Black people, to lawsuits over racially biased compensation for concussed Black players, to the NFL's inability –or is it unwillingness?--to hire and retain Black coaches in a league where a majority of the players are black. On Tuesday, the Houston Texans announced that they have hired a new head coach - DeMeco Ryans. He becomes one of three Black coaches among the 32 teams in the NFL. The league is also touting a historic first in the upcoming Super Bowl – two Black starting quarterbacks. Are these hopeful signs or progress, or, as some critics contend, too little, too late? Host Michel Martin talks to Justin Tinsley, who writes about sports and culture and appears on ESPN.And Carron Phillips, of Deadspin, explains why 20 years of the NFL's Rooney Rule failed to diversity football's leadership roles.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University is committed to moving the world forward, working to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. Nine campuses, one purpose. Creating tomorrow, today. More at iu.edu. If you follow football, and you know what, even if you don't, then you've surely heard about the NFL's race problem. NFL players protesting during the national anthem becoming a divisive topic nationwide. Why is a league with 70 percent of its players African American led by head coaches who've been predominantly white? Investigation into a lawsuit claiming the NFL uses race as a factor in determining which former players are compensated for head injuries. We're moving in a reverse direction. Black men are not being treated fairly in the National Football League.

Somebody got to say it. The clumsy reaction to players trying to take a stand on social issues by taking a knee during the national anthem. A lawsuit later settled over accusations that the NFL used race to determine compensation for retired players for brain injury. So black players' requests for compensation were denied more frequently than those by white players. And year after year, the league's seeming inability, or is it unwillingness, to hire and retain black coaches in a league where a majority of the players are black.

I don't think as a society we really think about the limits we're putting on young black, brown, minority children and girls when they don't see leadership in the head coach, GM. They don't see people that look like them in those positions. That's Brian Flores. Last year, he was fired from his position as head coach of the Miami Dolphins. His dismissal abruptly ended a contract that was supposed to last for two more years. Flores filed a class action suit against the NFL for racial discrimination. The suit's ongoing. He spoke with Jay Williams, host of the NPR podcast, The Limits. And this isn't about me. This is about something that's much bigger than me, which is second black man led a team, Art Schell,

who was named head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989. Since then, 191 men have served as NFL coaches, but only 24 have been African American. That, according to the Washington Post, which did a deep dive into the subject in a series last year. On Tuesday, that number increased by one when the Houston team, the Texans, announced that they've hired a new head coach, D'Amico Ryans. He becomes one of three black coaches among the 32 teams in the NFL. The league is also touting an historic first in the upcoming Super Bowl, two black starting quarterbacks. Are these hopeful signs or, as some critics contend, too little, too late? Consider this.

The NFL is the most watched sports league in the country and the most profitable. Fans come from every walk of life. So why is it so hard for the league to achieve diversity at the top? If the same thing keeps happening over and over again, it's not on me to give the benefit of the doubt to the people who keep doing the same thing over and over again. It's on them to do something different. That's coming up. From NPR, I'm Michelle Martin. It's Saturday, February 4th.

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I don't have an answer I can give you to how we can fix the NFL when the people who own the teams have shown you what they're about. Karin Phillips is a senior writer for Deadspin, a digital publication focusing on sports news. Twenty years ago, the NFL introduced hiring guidelines to bring in more diverse candidates for leadership positions. Named after Dan Rooney, the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and former chairman of the league's diversity committee, the Rooney rule stipulated that a team had to interview at least one Black person for an open head coaching job. But Phillips says it's pretty clear that the Rooney rule is not effective. Most of the time, it's just checking somebody

off a box. And they usually have who they want to hire already in the pipeline, or that they're already secretly working on their deal. Phillips doesn't see the Houston Texans' recent decision to hire D'Amico Ryans as a sign of any real change. For the people who think this is good, I would ask them, how is this good? Phillips says you can point to Houston's recent history. Before Ryans, Texas had three Black coaches in three years. None of them left voluntarily. He says unless Ryans does an incredible job with the team, the odds are high that he will suffer the same fate. Usually, if a black coach gets fired, he becomes a coordinator or a position coach. And he rarely, very, very rarely get another chance to get another head coaching job.

Phillips says the NFL continues to send the message that Black people are fit to entertain, but not to lead. If you think a league that is over 70% Black should only be coached by white dudes, that says a lot because that means you think we can only play the game, but we don't have the intellect to coach it. But if the best people who can do a job usually need work experience, then the majority of your workers are Black, then that should mean that your majority of coaches should be Black too. Well, right, that just makes common basic sense.

Coming up. The NFL, in a sense, is a microcosm of these conversations that we have in society in terms of workplace discrimination or mobility in certain industries. So that's what this is all about. That's when we return. This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University performs breakthrough research every year, making discoveries that improve human health, combat climate change, and move society forward. More at iu.edu slash forward.

In a lot of ways, the NFL hasn't been great at hiring Black people for leadership positions like head coach and general manager, because honestly, outside of the negative press, you know, why has it had to be? Justin Tinsley writes stories at the intersection of sports and popular culture. He's a frequent guest on ESPN programs, and his work has been featured in ESPN, the magazine and the New York Times. I asked him for his take on the NFL and what some critics see as its longstanding difficulties dealing with racial issues. He says that no matter how much criticism the league gets, it's too big and too popular to fail. The NFL is arguably the most beloved American business. They own multiple days of the week. It basically prints its own money, and it has the most watched program of the year every year in the Super Bowl. So we've been talking about these issues like black head coaches for how long now? And the NFL has only gotten

bigger. So, you know, I really just go back to that same rhetorical question. The NFL hasn't been great at hiring black head coaches and even black general managers because why has it had to be? Let these numbers sink in for a second. The league's been around 102 years. There have been 27 with D'Amico Ryans in Houston. There have been 27 black head coaches in that time. And this is the franchise's

third black head coach in the last three seasons, which that's another conversation altogether. So when you look at the history of this topic, the first black head coach was Fritz Pollard, and that was 1921. It took 67 years to get the next black head coach in Art Shell. So that's the conversation around the Rooney rule and why it's worked and why it hasn't worked. Well, Fritz Pollard was also a player coach. That's also something to remember. It wasn't the same. It wasn't the kind of lofty position, kind of CEO-like position that it is now, this enormous cultural figure. Okay. So one thing meant to address this is the Rooney rule, which you just mentioned. Just as briefly as you can,

could you remind us of what that is and why people think that it hasn't lived up to its potential? I mean, in an elevator pitch, the Rooney Rule is basically saying, hey, you need to hire Black people for head coaches and leadership positions in these franchises. And a lot of people don't feel like it's worked because the proof is in the pudding. There aren't a lot of Black people within these leadership positions. So the Rooney Rule turns 20 this year, and it's going to be a lot of discussion about what's worked and what hasn't worked. So that's basically what it is. Why do people feel so strongly about that, though? You know, some people might be listening to our conversation and say, you know, so what? You know, who cares whether most people aren't

going to be NFL head coaches. So why does this matter? Why has this become such a focus of attention? Well, when you think about the league is 65, 70% Black, but you can't get Black people within these leadership roles. And the Rooney Rule really hasn't worked because honestly, there's really no real penalty for following the rule. You interview a minority candidate, You put these things in place within organizations that promote upward mobility. But what's the penalty for not following it? Is it loss of picks? Is it fines? Sure, those things hurt. But look at the owners of the NFL. They're old white guys with a lot of money. But what they really covet is power and gatekeeping.

David Tepper is the owner of the Carolina Panthers, and the Panthers didn't give the job to Steve Wilkes, who was a black guy, despite him saving the season from what should have been a disaster. Frank Wright got the job. But Tepper said something in his press conference I think was very interesting. He said he's trying to end the old boys network within the NFL. He said the quiet part out loud. The old boys network works best when it's just old boys, in particular white boys with a lot of money. So the Rooney Rule won't work, honestly, until you make an example out of an owner. And when you start stripping power, when you start stripping influence in this gatekeeping, I'm talking about removing them in hefty fines, but the chances of that actually happening within the construct of the current NFL is basically slim to none.

Okay, but I'm asking you, the question I was asking you is, why does it matter? I was asking you, why does it matter that these coaches are, because as I said, most people aren't going to be NFL coaches, period. So the question is, you know, why does it matter? Why does it matter? Because being a head coach within the NFL is seen as one of the most prestigious jobs you can get in this country. And the fact that black head coaches or, you know, black guys who are really trying to be

coaches within the NFL are saying, look, this glass ceiling is damn near crippling. We can't get these jobs. Yeah, we're being interviewed for these positions, but we're not taken seriously as candidates moving forward. And that's why this is important. I mean, you can look at this and say it's one of the most egregious workplace discrimination examples that we've seen in American history. That's why it's important, because they can't get these jobs that they're absolutely qualified for because of constructs that are put in place. So that's why it's important. And the fact that about, what, 60% of the players in the NFL are Black? Yes. Is that part of it? Does it create a certain dynamic that you're what, 60% of the players in the NFL are black? Yes.

Is that part of it? Does it create a certain dynamic that you're good enough to be on the field, but you're not good enough to lead it or something about that? I mean, yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Like, I'm good enough to run out here and put my life and limbs on the line week in and week out, but I'm not good enough to lead your franchise from the sidelines with this prestigious job title, like a head coach, or I'm not good enough to basically build a team, which, you know, general managers do. And obviously being an owner within the NFL, there are 31 white owners in the league and there's not a black majority owner within the NFL. So yes, it creates a division and a dynamic that says you're good enough to do this, but you're not good enough to do this.

And speaking of good enough to do this, but not good enough to do that, this is, as you said, a little bit strange that given the dominance of African-American players in the league, that this is the first time that two black quarterbacks will be helming their teams for the upcoming Super Bowl. So that's kind of like, how did that happen? I mean, and why is that such a big deal? It's definitely a watershed moment. Whenever you're talking about the first Black people to do something, especially still in 2023, yeah, it's going to be huge. And we can look at the history of race relations and civil rights and the discussions like that,

and we can trace that to black quarterbacks within the NFL. My colleague Jason Reed just wrote an incredible book about the history of blacks within National Football League and how basically black players were not seen as quote unquote smart enough to lead franchises as quarterback. And we talk about head coaches being a prestigious position within American culture. You know, quarterback is just that. There's a heavyweight boxing champion of the world. There's a starting pitcher in baseball. And there's the starting quarterback within football. Like these are prestigious positions that for a long time, black people were basically barred from having. So when we see this moment happen in the Super Bowl, it should be a watershed moment. It should be

celebrated. It should be examined and analyzed because this is important. And not just them being great players or great quarterbacks, this is important because we know the history of this position within the league and larger American society as a whole. But here's where I kind of got to loop back to the question conversation we were having at the beginning is you'd think that success breeds success. People want to win. So they're winning with these players. They're winning with diverse rosters. What's the impediment there to breaking this glass ceiling if the results have already been established?

You know what I mean? So what's the holdup? This boils down to race at the end of the day, like most conversations in this country are. So, yes, you would think success breeds success, but a lot of people want to have success on their own terms. They want to have success in the way they're comfortable, you know, envisioning and seeing success. So yes, you would think, yeah, logically like,

yeah, hey, look, maybe we should give these people more of an opportunity to do these type of things. But life doesn't work like that. And definitely the NFL historically has not worked like that either. So it should be success breeds success. But power and gatekeeping lie at the root of this conversation. That was Justin Tinsley, a sports and culture writer and commentator for ESPN. He's also author of the book, It Was All a Dream, Biggie and the World That Made Him. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Michelle Martin.