News Article

Report Spelled It Out In Black And White

RON BORGES

Published: October 06, 2002

The silence has been more damning than the statistics.

…One factor in who is given an opportunity to lead an NFL team…is the people who do the hiring…[A]ll 32 NFL owners are white and only one general manager, Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, is black.

…The NFL's only public statement since the report was released was a canned comment from league spokesman Greg Aiello, who said, "Progress has been made and we expect that progress to continue. "

When you start at zero since Fritz Pollard lost his head coaching job in 1925, progress is not that difficult to make. But is it significant progress?

…Dungy was quoted in Indianapolis…saying, "I think it's a disappointment that more guys have not gotten the opportunity, but there's not a lot we can do. It really comes down to the 32 owners. I think attention needs to be given to it, but I think they would hope it doesn't come down to a lawsuit. We'd like to make progress without it. "

…No one is talking about quotas here. They're talking about opportunities. And how does opportunity occur?

…The NFL can talk all it wants about how improved things are, and it is correct. Things are improved. But improvement from 0 percent to 6 percent among head coaches, improvement from zero general managers to one general manager is far less than incremental. It's glacial.

When the next African-American promoted to head coach is neither a number nor a story - just a coach - that's progress.

...

This entire report is available by contacting us.