Being hired as an NFL head coach by billionaire owners in far too many instances is certainly not a meritocratic exercise. How can it be if Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy wasn’t hired for one of the several head coaching vacancies recently filled?
The Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys all passed on Bieniemy, who has been learning his craft under current Chiefs head coach Andy Reid––considered by many close followers of the sport as one of the great offensive minds in football history––since 2013, first as the Chiefs running backs coach before he was elevated to offensive coordinator in 2018.
This is what Reid said last month as reported by the blog Chiefs Wire regarding Bieniemy being a head coach: “I’d say hire him, like right now. That’s what I’d tell you. I don’t want to lose him, but if you’re asking me if he’s ready to be a head coach? Yeah, he’s ready. He was ready last year.
“Nobody is in more control than what he is within this game. He is a leader of men. He knows football, but he knows the offense like the back of his hand. He is in the quarterback room every day. I think if you talked to Patrick, I think Patrick would tell you how much of an influence he has had on him.”
Patrick is Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs’ transcendent 24-year-old quarterback who in only his second season as a starter holds 10 NFL records, four Chiefs franchise records, is the reigning NFL MVP and has led the Chiefs to their second consecutive AFC Championship Game this Sunday at home against the Tennessee Titans.
“He has that mindset, work ethic and determination you need to be a head coach in this league,” Mahomes recently said to reporters, “and I know he’s had the interest, but you know he will still be 100% in on what we are doing here. He would be an amazing coach and I am excited I still have him here right now for this playoff run.”
There is no more plausible reason why Bieniemy was overlooked than him being Black and the cultural comfortability that is evidently shared between white owners and white coaches that significantly informs owners’ decisions. For those who point derisive fingers at people invoking race to explain the causes and outcomes of various matters, dismissing or minimizing the profound impact of the color of one’s skin, then I welcome a more convincing and rational explanation as to why there are only three Black head coaches and one Latino head coach of the 32 NFL teams.
It is insulting to one’s intelligence and ability of discernment to argue that there isn’t a deep enough pool of Black coaching candidates or candidates of color. Along with Bieniemy, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and Kris Richard, who for the past two seasons has been the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for the Cowboys, would have been excellent choices to fill the head coaching openings that all went to white men except the Washington opening, which was filled by Ron Rivera.