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Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501
That is an interesting point. Let me throw some more data at you. 762 coaches in the nfl, 111 (14%) have a family tie. 78% of those hires are white. We saw it with Britt Reid. Alex wittingham isn’t family but he may as well be. He’s there because Reid is close friends with his dad. Adam Zimmer for crying out loud was for some reason calling plays in Minnesota. How many more were brought in because of who they know which, based on leadership structures, has been largely white.
You look at how Kyle shanahan got started. Gruden invited him to be a special assistant almost right out of college. Same with mcvay whose dad worked in the front office. hundreds of these positions are absorbed simply because they knew somebody. As the saying goes, some grow up on first base and you’d have to think many black athletes don’t have that luxury. These network hires don’t have to scrape through thankless admin jobs at a college football program. And in many cases, like with Stephen bellichick and Adam zimmer, they’re fast tracked to the top.
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Well, that is how most of those coaches get their starts. They quit playing after college, become unpaid or poorly compensated graduate assistants and then grinding. Some guys, white and black, do stop playing after a good NFL career and immediately find a good gig. But most of the greatest coaches in NFL history were marginal players. (Outside of the best player coaches in the 1920s but the HC in that era was basically a glorified captain.)
Kirk Herbstreit when asked years ago about this problem said the best way to solve it is have more black players immediately try to become graduate assistants once their playing careers are kaput.
Is there some nepotism and networking involved? No crap. Every industry has that. Once black coaches become more numerous in the profession, you will see the same thing happen with them. Human beings are tribal creatures.