SAN FRANCISCO – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will have his annual state of the league press conference Monday, and after the final job of the latest head coach hiring cycle was filled over the weekend, we already know what a significant number of questions from the 100 or so invited reporters will be:
Why weren’t any black head coach hired?
This is not a guess. It’s a virtual certainty the race of the coaches hired will dominate this press conference.
Sunday afternoon on X already showed ample evidence of reporters of all shades voicing their distaste for the hiring of nine white men and one man of Lebanese descent, while black men were somehow unfairly excluded.
Reporter Uses Racist ‘Good Ol’ Boys’ Trope
At least one of those reporters even gave a preview to the coming anger by sharing a theory (without evidence) that the hiring of white coaches came as a result of a “good ol’ boy club” – a racist trope as unfair as claiming black coaches are all DEI hires.
Nine of the 10 teams that replaced coaches this cycle hired white men. Robert Saleh, whose parents emigrated from Lebanon, was the lone non-white coach hired this cycle when he accepted the job with the Tennessee Titans.
And as two of the candidates that either lost their job (Raheem Morris in Atlanta) or stepped down (Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh) are black, that means there will be two fewer black head coaches in the NFL in 2026 than there were in 2025.
There will be three black NFL head coaches in 2026. Those are Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay, Aaron Glenn in New York and DeMeco Ryans in Houston.
And during Monday’s press conference, it will seem from the questioning as if the net loss is clearly Goodell’s fault. And he must answer for it.
NFL Can’t Tell Teams Who To Hire
But what just happened across the league is not Goodell’s doing. And it’s not the NFL’s doing.
The NFL doesn’t run head coach searches. Or coordinator searches. Or assistant coach searches. The league doesn’t make the final calls on those hires.
Multiple NFL sources made the point to OutKick in recent weeks that while the NFL hopes for the best outcome to all job searches, and that includes “the hiring of outstanding diverse candidates,” the league cannot mandate who teams hire.
That’s done at the club level by owners who pick the coach they’re probably going to fire within a four- or five-year span if recent history is any measure – because teams generally fail spectacularly at this hiring coach thing.
This is who the individual clubs hired this cycle:
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 03: Owner Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons celebrates after defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on October 03, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Left Leaning Blank, Rooney Racists?
There is no way to guarantee some team owners don’t have some bias or perhaps even prejudices in their hearts. But it is a leap to believe, for example, that …
The Falcons, owned by Kamala Harris supporter and President Trump dissenter Arthur Blank, fired a black coach in Morris and hired a white coach because a two-time coach of the year named Stefanski is part of some good ol’ boy club.
Blank, by the way, hired Ian Cunningham as his new general manager. Cunningham is black.
The Steelers, owned by Art Rooney II, were going to keep Tomlin against considerable public outcry in Western Pennsylvania. So did the family who authored the NFL’s Rooney Rule, the family that served Barack Obama in an ambassador role to Ireland, make a decision to hire a past Super Bowl winner with strong ties to Aaron Rodgers because they’re racists?
It’s hard to believe the Bills, who wanted to keep some sense of continuity for quarterback Josh Allen, hired Brady merely because he’s white. Because maybe, just maybe, he was a hot prospect throughout the league and was the Bills offensive coordinator that helped Allen win the MVP in 2024.
GLENDALE, ARIZONA – SEPTEMBER 25: Offensive Coordinator Klint Kubiak of the Seattle Seahawks during the NFL 2025 game at State Farm Stadium on September 25, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. The Seahawks defeated the Cardinals 23-20. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Multiple White Candidates Earned Jobs
It’s hard to believe Kubiak wasn’t attractive to the Raiders based on the fact he runs an offense in Seattle that has Sam Darnold starting at quarterback in Super Bowl LX. Kubiak has Darnold starting the Super Bowl is a phrase that would’ve gotten him the keys to New York City in 2018-2020.
John Harbaugh to the Giants? What black, brown, orange or green coach should be hired ahead of the best available coach in the cycle?
Jesse Minter replaced Harbaugh in Baltimore. And the Ravens beat out the Falcons, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Steelers, and Titans who also had interest in Minter. So was this a good ol’ boy hire? Because that would mean the club is massive.
LaFleur was hired by the Cardinals. Even the hapless Cardinals recognized that LaFleur’s older brother is a successful head coach in Green Bay, and the younger brother is the latest offensive coordinator to emerge from a Sean McVay coaching tree that also produced Jaguars coach Liam Coen, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, and the older LaFleur.
Goodell Will Virtue Signal
The amazing thing about these facts is that Goodell will almost definitely virtue signal that the NFL wants more diverse (black) candidates even though it’s not within the league’s reach to guarantee that.
In that regard, Goodell will look as woke as media members demanding more black coaches be hired without addressing every situation individually to outline where an actual wrong was done.
