Joanne Korth

Published: January 29, 2007

… The first 40 editions of the Super Bowl where played without an African-American head coach. So imagine [the first black quarterback Doug] Williams’ delight over Super Bowl XLI in Miami, where two black head coaches [Chicago’s Lovie Smith and Indianapolis’ Tony Dungy] will walk the sideline.

 

When Dungy, now 51, became an NFL assistant in 1981, there were barely more than a dozen black assistants in the league. When he became head coach of the Bucs in 1996, Dungy felt pressure to succeed … because his success could create opportunities for other black coaches.

 

After all, the NFL had a long history of failing to create hiring opportunities for minorities, especially the highest-profile coaching and front-office jobs.

 

In 1989, Raiders owner Al Davis hired Art Shell as the first black head coach of the NFL’s modern era and first since Fritz Pollard in the 1920s. …

 

In 2002, attorneys Johnnie Cochran andCyrus Mehri published a report titled “Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performances, Inferior Opportunities.” At the time, the report cited an alarming statistic: Since the NFL Began in 1920, more than 400 head coaches have been hired, but only six of them African-Americans.

 

The same year, influential Steelers owner Dan Rooney proposed a rule, known colloquially as the Rooney Rule, requiring teams to interview at least one minority for any head coaching vacancy.

 

Currently, six of the NFL’s 32 teams have black coaches, though nearly 70 percent of the players are African-American. …