The Family Business

Published 02/05/2026, Substack 

And if you decide to go, don’t come back and say the reason you didn’t make it is because your are Black. You know before you leave it’s not gonna be fair. You got to be better-Former Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson.

The recent firings and hirings of NFL coaches has as expected brought out the usual suspects decrying the lack of black head coaches given serious consideration or actually hired. It has become a regular part of the background noise that comes with “Black Monday,” the day the ax falls on the those coaches whose losing records have put them on the chopping block.

It would be naive to think that race doesn’t play a part in the current number of black head coaches in the NFL; there is one area where I do think it plays a role, and I will elaborate on this in a bit. But what is so striking now and what is hurting black coaches most in my opinion is nepotism. The word carries negative weight-I get that. You want to soften the edge and say, “familial preference?” Fine. But what do you make of this description of Nat Carroll’s (son of Pete) path to coaching:

Unsure of what to do after graduation, the younger Carroll was offered a job by his father to work for the Seattle Seahawks as a personnel assistant in the scouting department for one season before being named a defensive assistant in 2011. Initially offered a coaching position with the Jacksonville Jaguars by former Seahawks defensive coordinator and newly hired head coach Gus Bradley.

The point here is not to indict Pete Carroll re: race, but to shed light on the advantage afforded to both his sons. This is the NFL coaching version of passing down “generational wealth.” Three current NFL head coaches—Brian Callahan, Brian Schottenheimer and Kyle Shanahan—are the sons of former NFL head coaches; others including the Harbaugh brothers, Zac Taylor, Mat Lafleur and Sean McVay have strong familial coaching ties. And this is the top rung of the group. More evidence? Look at the Shula family tree-the family business? Sure. An advantage-you bet. There are many others I can name, but that is just stating more of what is obvious to anyone follows the NFL.

The legacy aspect of these hires compounds the bubble-effect in which the hirings take place. It’s not just that it gives them a foot in the door, crucially it puts them on the right coaching track-they are placed in the AP classes for coaching; the seat in the classroom giving them first look at developing trends in schemes and tactics; an opportunity to impress their elders. As league ownership includes more people like David Tepper, their youth, exposure to top coaching, and a comfort with analytical use of data makes them ideal candidates. The best illustration of this type are the coaches from the Mike Shannahan tree: Mike McDaniel, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, and Matt LaFleur. What ever his pros/cons are as a potential head coach are, in this landscape, Eric Bieniemy, dosen’t stand a chance.

Which brings me to the Eddie Robinson quote. This was the advice Robinson gave to James Harris before he left Grambling to start a career in the NFL-most notably with the Los Angeles Rams. What is more relevant about the quote is not what it implies about race, but that Robinson understood his role as coach and mentor. I grew up watching Harris and like the other notable quarterback from Grambling, Doug Williams, Harris was developed to play in the NFL style-no wishbone nonsense; tall, strong QBs trained to play in the pocket. So where is the Tony Dungy, Marvin Lewis, Dennis Green tree? Off the top of my head Mike Tomlin is the only one who comes top of mind without turning to Google. Responsibility within the black coaching fraternity should be examined-one hopes Todd Bowles will have the chance to pay it forward. If current trends continue, this may be critical for black coaches to advance to the top job.

Lastly there is the question of race. Two areas stand out: The bias towards defensive coaches and the SEC. Is it mere coincidence that so many of the black head coaches in the NFL are from the defensive side of the ball? Tomlin, Lewis, Todd Bowles, Tony Dungy, Mike Singletary, Aaron Glenn, DeMeco Ryans, Herman Edwards, Antonio Pierce, Ray Rhodes, Jerod Mayo... I don’t think so. Dennis Green is the only one that I know off the top of my head from the offense (do you really you want to count Art Shell?). And if not for the progressive thinking Bill Walsh, his journey may have turned out very different. Is the physicality of defense a “black thing;” offense the domain of the nerdy scions of former coaches? It’s a crude stereotype that I suspect is the more right than wrong perception as to how owners think.

As for the SEC, what does it say when there are currently no black head coaches; 5 in the history of the conference? When the most important conference in college football doesn’t have any black head coaches and one watches how Lane Kiffin (yeah, another nepo baby) manages to work the system for one job after another…it’s hard to feel a sense of despair.