NFL hires 4 coaches of color in one cycle for first time ever. And 'it's a big deal'

There’s hope for this country yet.

For decades, NFL owners have clung to the idea that people of color couldn’t coach their teams. They didn’t look the part. They didn’t interview well. They didn’t have the right experience. They didn’t have the right connections. They didn’t have the right astrological sign or whatever other nonsense excuse they used to hold deserving candidates back simply because they didn’t have the white color skin.

Well, look at the league now. Hours after the Carolina Panthers hired Dave Canales as their head coach Thursday came the news the Atlanta Falcons decided on Raheem Morris. That makes four men of color hired in a single coaching cycle, a record for the NFL, according to data collected for USA TODAY Sports' NFL Coaches Project.

It also brings the number of head coaches of color to nine, one more than the previous record for a single season. And there are still two jobs, the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders, left to fill.

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“It’s tremendously significant. Two years ago, we were talking about how we couldn’t get the number to move up. This year, it seems like it’s moved the needle pretty well,” said Adrien Bouchet, director of The Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sports and author of this year’s NFL report card on hiring.

“I think it’s a big deal and should be treated as such.”

To be clear, the NFL still has work to do. The nine coaches of color account for 28% of the 32 coaches in a league where roughly two-thirds of the players are men of color. Deserving coaches like Eric Bieniemy and Leslie Frazier still can’t get hired. Can’t even get interviews, in some cases.  

And while Atlanta (Morris) and New England (Jerod Mayo) have their first Black head coaches, eight teams still have not hired a man of color and three more have not hired one since the 1990s.

But the progress is as undeniable as it is overdue, and it should be celebrated.

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“They have come a long way and it does need to be acknowledged,” Bouchet said, pointing out that it’s been less than a decade since the NFL blackballed Colin Kaepernick for protesting racial injustice.

It will be months, maybe years, before we know what prompted this sea change this year. Maybe it’s the public shaming, which grew louder after every hiring cycle in which untested white coaches got plum jobs while Black assistants had the doors slammed in their faces.

Maybe it’s the success of coaches like DeMeco Ryans and Mike McDaniel, who inherited dumpster fires and quickly turned them into respectable teams. Ryans even got the Houston Texans — the Texans! — to the playoffs as a rookie coach and with a rookie QB. If that didn’t get owners’ attention, I don’t know what will.

Maybe it’s the NFL’s Accelerator Program, which puts promising coach and front-office candidates in the room with owners before there’s a job on the line. Maybe it’s the expanded Rooney Rule, which for the last few years has required owners to also interview diverse candidates for coordinator and quarterback coach openings, jobs that are often the pathway to head coaching opportunities.

Or maybe owners have finally woken up to what so many of us, including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, realized long ago: Diversity makes us better.

Diversity leads to a wider range of viewpoints and, thus, different ways of looking at things. When you’re trying to solve a problem like the Panthers, why wouldn’t you want to try coming at it from a different angle? Hiring different versions of the same white guy sure hasn’t worked.

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As significant as this milestone is for the NFL, it’s just as important for the rest of our society. The NFL is our national pastime, and it sets trends and agendas across the country.

Many NFL owners are conservative and several financially supported our former president, who regularly denigrates and demeans people of color. If they are willing to hire Black and Latino head coaches, their most high-profile employees, it gives decisionmakers in other industries permission to do so, too. When the millions and millions of Americans who watch the NFL see head coaches of color on their TVs each week, it puts a big dent in the idea that people of color can’t be leaders.

It also can inspire children of color, showing them they can aspire to be anything — NFL coaches, included.

“It sends a great message,” Bouchet said. “It’s going to be interesting to see if the NFL and its broadcast partners push this. Because it is something to be celebrated. It is good news and it’s been a long time coming.”

But it cannot be the end.

In 2009, three coaches of color were hired. A year later, there were none. In 2011, one Hispanic and two Black coaches were hired. A year later, one coach of color was hired. In 2013, there were none.

“The key will be to constantly keep the pressure on the NFL owners. The other key is to see how many head coaches of color hire offensive and defensive coordinators who are coaches of color,” Bouchet said.

Or maybe the key is realizing that diversity is really another word for equality. Everybody having the same opportunities, and nobody being held back or denied — intentionally or unconsciously — because of the color of their skin.

This is a good day for the NFL. It’s a good day for our society. And I hope it’s one of many more to come.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.