NFL’s Black assistant coaches need support. The NFLPA should speak up.

During a recent conversation about Black head coaches in the NFL, Rod Graves, the outgoing executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation, suggested that players would help the cause by advocating more vocally for the Black assistant coaches they work with.

You would think that in a league with so many Black star players it would be natural for them to openly credit the assistants who play such a significant role not only on the field but often off the field in their personal lives.

This does not always happen.

“I personally have always felt that no better support and no better motivation for a coach as a candidate is the players themselves speaking out about the job that those people have done with them. And we don’t see enough of that,” Graves said. “It doesn’t have to be a formal protest. If they just spoke out more about the people making a difference in their career, that would be helpful.”

Graves, who ended his nine-year term on Feb. 28, said that the first step for greater player voice is for the Fritz Pollard Alliance and the NFL Players Association to establish a relationship. It’s bizarre that there has not been one.

There may currently only be three Black head coaches in the NFL, but there are a large number of Black assistants who play a significant role in the development of players on and off the field. These coaches often serve as a buffer between the head coach and the players.

The Black players should acknowledge that.

“I think they have been a little bit too quiet as it relates to where the game is today and how they benefit from it,” Graves said. “If they don’t rise up and say, ‘This is where we need to make a difference in how our game is run and how it’s developed and who partakes in that,’ then that 60 percent [of Black players in the NFL] is being underutilized. They need to be more involved, and I think that’s where our strength lies.”

The first step is to have a relationship with the NFLPA, which has about 2,000 active players. The Fritz Pollard Alliance has a strong relationship with the NFL commissioner’s office. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell attends the alliance’s banquet every Super Bowl and supports various alliance initiatives.

The fact that the alliance does not have an equally strong relationship with the NFLPA is a blind spot that Graves’ successor must eliminate. Graves became the Fritz Pollard Alliance executive director in 2019. He can’t remember there ever being a strong relationship between the alliance and the NFLPA.

“I would say that we were probably too narrowly focused on our work rather than aligning with certain other groups,” Graves said. “The NFLPA is not the only party out there that we could have forged an alignment with, and that just simply wasn’t our focus during my time period.”

Now is the time. If there is to be an awakening where the league’s Black players become more vocal and advocates for talented Black assistant coaches to be recognized, promoted and perhaps become head coaches, the first step is for the two associations to have a relationship.

“I would say of all the possibilities, that certainly should be one of those at the very top,” Graves said. “Given the nature of where we are today, I think it’s time to awaken the potential impact of the players in the hiring process.”

David White, the interim director of the NFLPA, is open to establishing a connection with the alliance.

“I think it’s a great idea,” White said during a conversation at the NFL combine. “I think a relationship with them is an important idea that makes sense to me, particularly given the growth of our members who want to become coaches. What they want is what players want generally, which is for talent to have an opportunity to rise, and for players, coaches and every other stakeholder in the league to be judged on merit and not on bias or any other nonsense that has plagued this industry and the country since our beginning.

“Players are accustomed to battling for their job each and every day of their career. ‘Judge me on how I show up to the job.’ That’s what they want for coaches. That’s what they want for themselves. So, to work with this and any other organization that wants to help ensure a reality where Black players have a shot to be coaches, I think that is a natural idea that players will respond favorably to. And I think it’s a great idea.”

There are a number of discussion points high on the NFLPA’s list of priorities in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations: an 18-game schedule, international expansion, revenue sharing, playing field surfaces. Creating a level playing field for all aspiring head coaches is a priority.

“What I do think is that we should all participate in making sure that great work is recognized by clubs and by everyone else,” White said. “We have seen over many years times when coaches, in part because of their race, are ignored and the great work that they do is ignored. We should all have a stake in wanting to see that stop and to make sure that the great work that they are doing is fully recognized as it is recognized with their counterparts. I think players would agree with that.”

While the idea of Black players in particular speaking up for Black assistants sounds like a great idea, the practical application is complicated. While more than 60% of the players may be Black, the power structure that surrounds them — head coaches, coordinators, team presidents, general managers, owners — is overwhelmingly white.

Advocating for Black assistant coaches could be risky.

“In this environment today, we all are a little bit careful of putting things in the context of Black and white,” Graves said. “I know that ultimately we want to improve the fate of Black coaches.”

At a time when NFL franchises are seeming oblivious to giving aspiring Black head coaches a fair shot, a relationship between the Fritz Pollard Alliance and the NFLPA makes perfect sense. Each organization in its own way is advocating for fairness.

The NFLPA advocates for active players to be treated fairly. The Fritz Pollard Alliance advocates for equal access to post-playing career opportunities in the NFL.

“I get where we’re going on the issue of Black coaches,” Graves said. “I just want a system that’s fair to everyone.”

The vocal advocacy of Black players for qualified assistant coaches could play a significant role in leveling a slanted playing field.

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