And then there were two.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the Tampa Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles are the only current Black NFL head coaches. Bowles, an Elizabeth, New Jersey, native, was the Jets’ head coach from 2015–18.
The number was reduced on Sunday when the Houston Texans fired Lovie Smith, who was only afforded one season on the job and finished with the second-worst record in the league at 3-13-1. However, even the legendary late Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi couldn’t have won more than a handful of games with the deficient Texans roster.
Smith, 64, was the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2004–12 and guided them to Super Bowl XLI to conclude the 2006 season by losing 29-17 to the Indianapolis Colts. He was the Titans’ associate head coach and defensive coordinator last season and promoted to head coach in February of last year after owner Cal McNair and general manager Nick Caserio gave David Culley the boot after a 4-13 stretch.
Among the many commonalities shared by Smith and Culley are they are both Black and were both terminated after just one season.
Culley, 67, was a 27-year assistant coach in the league before getting his first head coaching opportunity, and it couldn’t have been with a more poorly run franchise. Juxtapose Smith and Culley with Kliff Kingsbury, who was given his walking papers by the Arizona Cardinals on Monday.
The 43-year-old Kingsbury was hired by the Cardinals to be their head coach in January 2019 in what could be developed as a unit in a class curriculum on the subject of white privilege. He was given that position with no professional coaching experience on his résumé and a dubious 35-40 record, including a 19-35 mark in Big 12 Conference games in six seasons as the head coach for Texas Tech.
Kingsbury was hired by the Cardinals after going 5-7 in his final season at Texas Tech, which foreshadowed what would be an inadequate four-season tenure with Arizona, compiling a nine-games-below-.500 record of 27-38. Kingsbury did lead the Cardinals to the playoffs last season, going 11-6 and losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in their NFC wildcard game.
The fundamental point is Black coaches aren’t provided with the same longevity to weather losing seasons as white coaches. In the cases of Smith and Culley, just one. A little under a year ago today, Brian Flores, who in three seasons as the Miami Dolphins head coach had them on an upward trajectory, filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday against the NFL and its 32 teams, alleging discrimination against Black head coaches and executives. The suit is ongoing. Several other Black coaches subsequently joined the suit.
Flores, 41, who is of Honduran descent and was born and raised in Brooklyn, was fired by the Dolphins after a 9-8 record in the 2021 campaign, which included winning eight of their last nine games. He was 10-6 in 2020 and 5-11 in 2019, having to first clean up the mess left by his predecessor, Adam Gase, who was rewarded for his failed stay from 2016–18 by being hired by the Jets as their head coach in January 2019, less than three weeks after being dismissed by the Dolphins. The Jets booted Gase in January of 2021 after a two-year run at 9-23.
Flores is still waiting for another shot while serving as the senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach for the Steelers. Like Smith and Culley, Steve Wilks was one-and-done with the Cardinals. He was shown the door at the end of a 3-13 2018 season and replaced by Kingsbury. He started this season as the Carolina Panthers’ defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach, and was elevated to interim head coach when Matt Rhule was dumped in October.
The 53-year-old Wilks went 6-6 and has been praised by numerous Panthers players for his leadership, acumen and preparation. According to team owner David Tepper, he is a candidate for the head coaching opening, but for Black coaches, history says that means be hopeful, not optimistic.
Mike McDaniel?