Why does the color of the coach matter?

Eric Bieniemy's journey shows frustrating plight of black coaches in NFL: 'Every year the standard changes'




Another head coach hiring cycle is about to close, and again the most embarrassing issue concerning the NFL has taken center stage.


I don’t say that lightly considering this is a league that has been navigating various clown shows for the better part of two decades.


Still, it was striking to see the visceral reaction of many pundits and former players on social media Tuesday once the New York Giants’ decision to hire Joe Judge and the Carolina Panthers’ choice to hire Matt Rhule became public.


Both those franchises chose those men to lead their organizations into the future, largely because they truly believed they were the best men for the job. Rhule is respected for his forward-thinking nature and ability to develop players and men, while Judge is a highly respected special teams coach who is regarded as a smart guy with good schemes and a “presence.”


In a vacuum, both men deserve a shot to show what they can do as NFL head coaches, and both teams are free to hire whoever they feel is the best fit for their organization.


In the minutes, hours and days after their hirings, however, the conversation surrounding Judge and Rhule quickly shifted to another coach who deserves a chance to show what he can do leading a club, one with a strong résumé — that includes a seven-year apprenticeship in pro football’s most fruitful coaching tree — a long list of players who love him and reputation for being a stickler for details.


That coach is Eric Bieniemy, and he is the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs. He is African American, and in a league that’s 70 percent black, his inability to get a head coaching job, despite all his positives, is baffling to many.


“I think it’s discouraging, to say the least,” said Bieniemy’s agent, Brian Levy, who also represents several African American coaches in college and the NFL. “We’re really trying to find out what the standard is, and every year the standard changes. We’re just trying to swim against the current.”


The current is strong. People generally hire who they know, and when all but two of the NFL’s team owners (Jacksonville’s Shad Khan and Buffalo’s Kim Pegula) and one general manager (Chris Grier) are white, it helps explain why minorities have such a hard time breaking into leadership positions, despite résumés that should get them in the door.


Take Bieniemy, for instance. Over the past two years, the 50-year-old — who carved out a nine-year career as a running back — has helped the Chiefs finish first (2018) and sixth (2019) in total offense. He has helped coach the NFL’s reigning MVP in quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and during that same period he had seven head coaching interviews. If he fails to land the Cleveland job, which is reportedly expected to be decided by the end of the week, he will go 0 for 7.


It’s a fate that has befallen far too many black assistants in this league, despite the large swath of interview opportunities that take place because of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for available head coaching and senior football operations positions.


Currently four of the league’s 32 franchises are guided by minority coaches — Rivera in Washington, Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, Anthony Lynn in Los Angeles and Brian Flores in Miami. And of the five new head coaching openings this offseason, three went to white men (Judge, Rhule and Mike McCarthy) while the fourth went to Rivera, who is Hispanic.


Even though the Rooney Rule has been in place since 2003, the fact we’re looking at another disappointing hiring cycle for African American coaches — not to mention the fact that we have only one more minority head coach (four) in 2020 than we did when the rule was first enacted — has led some to ponder whether the rule needs to be revisited or tweaked.