Biden Calls Out Lack Of Black NFL Coaches During Super Bowl Halftime Interview

President Joe Biden took aim at the notable lack of diversity in the coaching staff within the NFL during the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl saw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers emerge with a convincing victory. While many celebrated the sporting event, Biden took the time to point out a stark issue within the NFL. The NFL has a lack of diversity in the coaching staff in the league. In fact, more than 60% of players in the NFL are Black, but there are only two Black head coaches.

Biden discussed why he hoped this situation would change.

You’ve got to go out and look – there’s innumerous incredibly qualified African American coaches out there.

I don’t know how many, when I picked a Black woman to be vice president, I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of little girls just said, ‘I can do that.’ … It matters, it matters. And I don’t understand why they cannot find, because they exist, so many African American coaches that are qualified, that should be in the pros in my view.

Biden’s comments are not a new criticism of the NFL, and the league has been under pressure to change for many years. The league changed its rules in 2003 when it required every head coaching vacancy to interview ‘at least one or more diverse candidates’ under the Rooney Rule. Unfortunately, given the small number of Black coaches in the NFL, it seems that there are deeper issues at play in the league.

Interestingly, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one of the most diverse coaching teams in the league. All three of the team’s coordinators – Todd Bowles, Byron Leftwich and Keith Armstrong – are Black. The assistant head coach Harold Goodwin is also Black. The team is also diverse in other areas, with two female full-time assistant coaches. Lori Locust is the assistant defensive line coach, while Maral Javadifar is the assistant strength and conditioning coach.

With this in mind, many would feel that excuses for not hiring a diverse coaching staff to lead winning sports teams are thin. Nonetheless, it is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seem to be the exception.