The NFL’s head coaching hiring process came under fire again with the announcement this week that the New York Giants had apparently decided to hire Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who is white, as their new coach -head before conducting an interview with the former head of the Dolphins. coach Brian Flores, who is black. Under the NFL’s Rooney Rule, teams are required to interview minority candidates outside their own organization for head coaching and front office positions.
On Inside the FLX this week, I spoke with Sim Covington, chief diversity officer at FLCC, about the fact that the NFL has only one Black head coach, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The conversation took place before the controversy over Daboll’s hiring. He said that given that most NFL owners and the league’s power structure are overwhelmingly white, it’s not surprising that this is reflected in the league’s hiring.
Flores’ apparent snub only became known when Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who had hired Daboll and Flores as assistants in the past, congratulated the wrong Brian via text message for landing the job. Flores is suing the NFL, calling his interview with the Giants a “sham.”
