Rams legend Marshall Faulk calls out racial biases in coaching
· Yahoo Sports
In the NFL, there has been a hurdle for minority coaches to achieve head coaching roles. Compared to their white counterparts, minority coaches have failed to get hired, despite having equal or even greater resumes. With the recent passing of Sherman Lewis, a long-time NFL assistant head coach whose lack of a head coaching opportunity highlighted the racial bias within the league, more voices are speaking out against the unjust struggle in achieving these high-level positions.
Lewis, an African-American, was the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers under Mike Holmgren. Lewis won four Super Bowls under Bill Walsh, George Seifert, and Holmgren, but never got a chance to win his own as a head coach. However, Lewis' lack of job opportunities wasn't something that was a problem for the rest of Holmgren's staff.
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Quarterbacks coach Steve Mariucci was hired by the University of California to be their head coach. Mariucci was at Cal for one season before being hired as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Quarterbacks coach Andy Reid was hired from Green Bay to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Mike Sherman was an assistant with Holmgren in Green Bay and became his offensive coordinator in Seattle before being hired as the Packers' head coach.
Jon Gruden, Marty Mornhinweg, and Dick Jauron were assistants on Holmgren's staff before seeking coordinator jobs. Those coordinator positions launched both men into head coaching roles. Jim Zorn was hired from Holmgren's Seattle staff as a quarterbacks coach to be Washington's head coach. That's seven different white, mainly offensive-minded coaches (except for Jauron) who picked up head coaching jobs despite never being Holmgren's offensive coordinator in Green Bay.
The only minority head coach on Holmgren's staff to become a head coach was Ray Rhodes, Holmgren's former defensive coordinator. Even looking at the NFL over the last 20 years, most minority head coaches are defensive minds, calling into question why smart, offensive-minded minority coaches aren't getting those opportunities.
Lewis, even with public support from Holmgren, never got that head coaching job. The voices are speaking up, and one in particular is Rams legend Marshall Faulk. Faulk, who entered coaching last season as the running backs coach on Deion Sanders' staff at Colorado, was hired this offseason as the head coach of the Southern Jaguars.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Faulk highlighted the struggle faced by coaches who share his complexion.
"Football’s the only sport that players struggle to come off the field and become a coach,” Faulk told Brent Schrotenboer. “They look at us like if you’re successful at the game playing then you won’t be successful at the game in any other capacity.”
Faulk then dived into sports in general, highlighting the multiple examples of players making the jump from their playing careers into positions of power, discussing how, despite the pool of players mainly being of minority descent, their white counterparts are getting the best jobs after playing.
“I’m just gonna say what it is,” Faulk said. “Matt Ryan can be a GM (president of football in Atlanta, where he oversees the general manager). Why do other players kind of go through and jump through the hoops to be a GM?
“What’s the quarterback (coach) that’s now in Minnesota?” Faulk said referencing Josh McCown. “He was in Houston. They were about to give him the (head coaching) job (in Houston)… He barely played. Played a few games in the league. But it happens. You can be JJ Redick and never have coaching experience and get the Lakers job. But can Marshall Faulk get the Rams job? Hell no. It is what it is."
“There’s a level of comfort, but we, if this is the route we have to go to show like Coach Prime (Sanders) did, that hey, I can lead an organization, I can do what I need to do,” Faulk said. “And I’ll do that. It’s no different than a lot of other coaches that went this route."
“We don’t have the opportunity of (coach Mike LaFleur) who just got the (Arizona) Cardinals head coaching job who I barely knew was with the (Los Angeles) Rams you know?” Faulk said. “That’s a hell of an opportunity. And I’m gonna say (Rams) coach (Sean) McVay, he’s done a really good job of getting guys ready to get jobs … It’s just weird that the Atlanta Falcons would fire a guy (Morris) who had a better record than the guy that they hired (Stefanski).”
This is a problem in college football, and as Faulk highlighted, many former black players are going to HBCUs to begin their coaching careers before making the jump to the FBS. Michael Vick, Eddie George, and DeSean Jackson are recent examples of players cutting their coaching teeth with HBCU programs.
Over the last several seasons, not only has McCown interviewed for the Houston Texans head coaching vacancy despite having no coaching experience, but Philip Rivers interviewed for the Buffalo Bills head coaching job, despite only coaching high school football.
In 2022, Jeff Saturday was named interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, despite being out of coaching for over a year. His previous coaching experience was also at the high school level.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams legend Marshall Faulk calls out racial biases in coaching