11-16-2005, 10:39 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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FBF Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5,660
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An interesting commentary from Trash Talk,
Quote:
There are 32 NFL teams. Six of them have black head coaches. Half of those will probably make the playoffs.
Is the hiring of an African-American head coach still an issue?
Heading into this weekend’s clash between the Indianapolis Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals, the answer unfortunately is yes. The situation is far from perfect. But it does seem to be improving, and commissioner Paul Tagliabue and the league office deserve some credit for turning up the heat and improving the hiring process to include more minority candidates.
Yet most of the credit goes to the coaches themselves for being good at what they do and slowly making the racial angle moot. Someday there will be a representative mix of all kinds of people in the NFL coaching ranks, and the color of someone’s skin won’t cause a single eyebrow to be raised.
Right now three of the six African-American head coaches not only are flourishing, but are coach-of-the-year candidates. Tony Dungy has built the Colts’ defense into a unit that is almost as impressive as his offense, and now 9-0 Indy is a Super Bowl favorite. This weekend he visits Cincinnati, where Marvin Lewis is doing a similarly magnificent rebuilding job with the surprising Bengals (7-2).
In Chicago, Lovie Smith has the Bears atop the NFC North with a 6-3 record while playing a rookie quarterback. While the Bears’ success is due largely to their tenacious defense, and the offense is pedestrian at best, this is only his second season at the helm. Give him time.
How about Dungy or Lewis and Smith meeting in a Super Bowl? That might be just the ticket to make the issue go away for good.
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