In a story written by Penn Live’s Aaron Kasinitz, the author explores how minorities have been integrated into pro football’s two most profile positions: quarterback and head coach. For quarterback, we’ve seen players like Russell Wilson, Cam Newton and Tyrod Taylor come to the spotlight with great success, including the Super Bowl. But minority head coaching hasn’t been as quick to change.
Since adopting the Rooney Rule in 2003, the NFL had eight non-white head coaches in 2010-2011. However, since then it’s had six or less for the past five years.
In an exclusive interview Kasinitz had with Major League Football president Wes Chandler, Chandler explains the landscape of minority coaching from his perspective as a former NFL player and coach.
“It’s almost like bloodlines,” Chandler said. “It branches out from head coaches, and there are these groups of people in power positions who promote the coaches they know and hire the coaches they know, usually from the same bloodline. For me, I just didn’t have enough people I knew in the coaching world.”
Chandler and MLFB are trying to break that barrier before it even has a chance to establish a root in this new league — 50 percent of the coaches in MLFB are non-white. The league strives to be proactive in their opportunities, not just with players, but with coaches, too.
“That’s 50 percent, and probably a good ratio because we’re a clean slate,” Chandler said. “With the NFL, things have been done one way for so long that it’s like ink on a blackboard. It’s harder to change.”
For more on this story, MLFB and beyond, read the full article here: http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/02/unbroken_barriers_examining_ra.html#incart_river_index
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