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After Brian Flores' lawsuit accusing the NFL of racial discrimination, Fox sportscaster Nick Wright said that having only one Black head coach in the league is an intentional move by team owners.
On Wednesday's episode of Fox Sports' First Things First, Wright mentioned during a segment discussing the lawsuit that in a league based on merit it's a "statistical impossibility" to have only one Black head coach in the NFL. The reason for the discrepancy in the number of Black head coaches in the NFL comes down to the team owners, Wright said.
"Even in sports, where you can't be like, 'White people just have more access.' No, Black guys all over the league and yet still, when it gets to, as [co-host Chris] Broussard said, the positions where it's like, 'Ok, but we need a thinker. We need someone, we need a real smart, cutting-edge guy.' There's a clear ceiling on what the vast majority of NFL ownership believes Black people are equipped to do."
He went on to point out that during the last two off seasons, 16 different jobs in the NFL became vacant and only one Black man, David Culley with the Houston Texans, was hired and then fired the following season. Wright also claims that several people believed Culley was given the position simply to be fired.
Wright then moves on to the National Hockey League and creates a rhetorical scenario to demonstrate his point: that merit and experience are not the only factors at play when teams in the NFL hire head coaches.
"If you woke up tomorrow and half of the head coaches in the NHL were Black, would that strike you as a little odd? It's like how did that happen? The league is, you know, 2 percent Black and half the head coaches are Black? If you woke up tomorrow and half of professional hockey's coaches were Black, would you think, 'Well, there must be some type of sustained effort or something but not just a meritocracy that is happening that is leading to this?' Of course, you would because it's unimaginable."
However, Wright says the NHL situation he drew up is currently taking place in the NFL.
"But that is exactly what is happening in the NFL on a statistical basis, as far as, to have 70 percent of the league, in a league where the vast majority of head coaches and coordinators played at least at the collegiate level, to have this minute amount of representation."
On Tuesday, Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL and three teams in the Southern District of New York. In the suit, Flores alleges that he was unable to get a head coaching job due to his race and that the league "is managed like a plantation."
Flores was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins for the past three seasons. During his tenure with the team, the Dolphins compiled a 24-25 record and failed to make the playoffs. He was fired in January.
Currently, the Pittsburgh Steelers' Mike Tomlin is the only Black head coach in the league.
