Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy
If there is one organization in the sports world that should be embracive of DEI practices, it’s the NFL. As of the writing of this blog, only one coach of African American descent is currently a head coach in the NFL and that is Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The recent dismissal of Head Coaches Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins and David Culley of the Houston Texans has sparked a conversation about why there needs to be more diversity in terms of head coaching hires for the upcoming 2022 NFL season and beyond.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defensive Coordinator Todd Bowles
Now, I want to make one thing very clear. A lot of people think that the NFL is just a game or a sport. However, the NFL is a business and in business, you need to have Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in order to make your business grow while also embracing acceptance in the workplace.
We are seeing plenty of that already on the field with Las Vegas Raiders Defensive End Maxx Crosby coming out of the closet last year as an example. But while we are seeing plenty of diversity on the field, we aren’t seeing it as much off the field. Sure, we have seen some branches of diversity, equality and inclusion within the NFL such as more women taking on more roles such as coaching and executive positions, but it’s not enough.
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Brian Flores during his tenure as head coach of the Miami Dolphins
This upcoming offseason, we need to have more diversity within the NFL’s head coaching ranks and NOT fire coaches who help teams get winning records like what the Miami Dolphins did with Brian Flores, who got the Dolphins to a 9-8 record despite starting the year at 1-7. Believe me, if I were Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, I would NOT have fired Brian Flores.
If the NFL wants to set a good example for the game and for the business, they need to hire more head coaches that display traits of:
Racial backgrounds (African American, Hispanic, etc.)
Gender (It would be groundbreaking if there was a woman head coach in the NFL at some point. We are seeing a few women in assistant coaching positions and a few executive positions, but it’s not enough.)
Neurodiverse or Disabled (As someone who is neurodiverse and has a disability, I would personally like to see this happen at some point. Neurodiverse and Disabled individuals can make as big of a difference as much as anyone off the field. Could you possibly imagine a head coach on the autism spectrum for example? That would be the groundbreaking of groundbreaking, if you ask me.)
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San Francisco 49ers Defensive Backs Coach Katie Sowers
Now, of course it’s not up to me to force NFL teams to be more diverse and inclusive. But as the neurodiverse uncle of two little girls, it’s my responsibility to teach them and anyone interested in learning about DEI in our workplace and in our society as a whole.
NFL teams and the NFL itself need to come to the conclusion that anyone can make a difference whether it would be head coach to greeting fans as they arrive at the stadiums on game day.
You could have someone who is disabled or neurodiverse getting fans fired up or helping to run a team from the business or the game side of things because if that’s what their talent is to help the NFL grow, then so be it.
We are already seeing some signs of it in the autism/neurodiversity community as I know someone who works for the Philadelphia Eagles that is neurodiverse. We still have a long way to go, but for now, it’s just baby steps.
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Catch you all later!!
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