Furious football fans call out NFL for hiring no black head coaches despite teams with open positions

The Athletic’s Jordy Fee-Platt reported that with the Arizona Cardinals closing in on Mike LaFleur and the Las Vegas Raiders settling on Klint Kubiak, all 10 NFL head coaching vacancies in the 2026 hiring cycle appear filled. However, only one minority was hired: former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh.

Sports media personality Dov Kleiman, who is powered by Polymarket Sports, recently wrote on X: “Yikes: Not a single Black head coach was hired in this year’s coaching cycle despite a record 10 teams having a position open. Many NFL fans are already calling the NFL to investigate. The Rooney Rule has become an absolute joke…”

Todd Bowles, DeMeco Ryans and Aaron Glenn are the only black head coaches in the league

Daily Mail’s James Cohen reported that furious football fans have called out NFL team owners over the lack of black head coaches in the league. Some fans noted that the Tennessee Titans hired Robert Saleh, born to Lebanese parents [Saleh is reportedly the first Arab American and Muslim head coach in NFL history]. Aside from Saleh, the eight other new head coaches are all white.

Fee-Platt further reported that there are currently three black head coaches in the league: Todd Bowles with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans, and Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets.

In 2002, there were only two. That was the season before the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to hold an in-person interview with at least two external head-coaching candidates who are minorities and/or women. In 2017, there were seven black NFL head coaches and eight minority coaches.

Eric Bieniemy and Mike McDaniel are two black coaches with offensive coordinator roles

Fee-Platt reports two black coaches have landed offensive coordinator positions. Eric Bieniemy returned to the role he previously held with the Kansas City Chiefs in January.

Mike McDaniel, who identifies as biracial, is now the OC of the Los Angeles Chargers after being fired from head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

Five black coaches hired for defensive coordinator positions

According to The Athletic, five other black coaches were hired as defensive coordinators: Christian Parker for the Dallas Cowboys, Daronte Jones for the Washington Commanders,

Patrick Graham for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dennard Wilson for the New York Giants, and Raheem Morris for the San Francisco 49ers.

Ten open positions in the league for head coach role

The ten opening positions in 2026: Arizona Cardinals [Mike LaFleur], Atlanta Falcons [Kevin Stefanski], Baltimore Ravens [Jesse Minter], Buffalo Bills [Joe Brady],

Cleveland Browns [Todd Monken], Las Vegas Raiders [Klint Kubiak], Miami Dolphins [Jeff Hafley], New York Giants [John Harbaugh], Pittsburgh Steelers [Mike McCarthy], and Tennessee Titans [Robert Saleh].

The Athletic's Jerry Brewer reported that on Sunday, NFL teams spammed social media with Black History Month posts. A few hours later, the [head coach] hiring cycle ended, and one number spoke louder than their virtue signaling: zero. Brewer wrote that the results were in and the social media posts meant nothing.

Football is a merit based sport from top to bottom

Reacting to Dov Kleiman’s X post, one user wrote, “Not one Black head coach hired this offseason. Not one. So if the Rooney Rule isn’t followed—and nobody’s enforcing it—then let’s stop pretending it’s about opportunity. At that point it’s just paperwork pretending to be progress.” Another said, “Here’s a thought, hire based on qualifications not skin color.”

A third user expressed, “Football is a merit-based sport from top to bottom. Engineering who plays and coaches based on skin color is ridiculous.” A fourth user commented, “Correction. NO fans are calling on the @NFL to investigate. Fans want to win. They want the best players and best coaches. Nobody cares what they look like.” A fifth user expressed, “Hire on confidence of merit regardless of the amount of melatonin.”

A user wrote, “The best coaches should get the job race should have almost nothing to do with it.” Another wondered, “Maybe teams are just hiring the best qualified. Why should race play into that?” A third user shared, “6% of the US is made up of black males. Currently there are 3 black head coaches out of 32 teams which is bit over 9% representation. What’s truly a joke is discussing race instead of football.”

Another said, “There is no need for the rule, just hire the best candidate.” A third user expressed, “Maybe they weren’t the best options? I hear a lot of white defensive backs got shut out of landing a spot on any NFL team also. Should we have an investigation into that issue?”

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