How else to explain yet another shameful hiring cycle, when Eric Bieniemy is likely to go without a job – again – while white 30-somethings with half his resume have been handed the keys to the kingdom? When other immensely talented Black coaches like Byron Leftwich and Thomas McGaughey can’t get first, let alone second, interviews but Detroit hires someone whose introductory news conference seemed more like an audition for an Animal House reboot?
The only plausible explanation is the same as it’s always been: NFL owners are happy to employ people of color as players, maybe even as position coaches. But they’ll be damned if they’ll allow a Black or brown man to be the public representative for their prized possession. So they move the goalposts to explain passing over people of color while contorting themselves to justify their hiring of equal or lesser white candidates.
It’s possible that the Houston Texans, the only team still looking for a head coach, will hire Bieniemy or Leslie Frazier. Even if they do, it does not change the gaping racial disparity in the league’s top positions.
