"If Flores, Culley were white, would they have been fired?" - Chris Bosh lashes out as NFL's glaring racial discrimination towards HCs
Former NBA superstar Chris Bosh shared his thoughts on the NFL and the discrimination of black head coaches. In a piece, the 11-time All-Star wrote for The Last Chip, a website containing stories and lessons from his time with the Miami Heat and "The Big Three's" last NBA championship.
He spoke about former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and former Houston Texans head coach David Culley. He asked this question regarding both coaches.
"If Flores or Culley had been white, do you really think they’d have been fired after this season?”
The two-time NBA champion also asked if black coaches are given the same treatment as their peers and given the same opportunities or salaries:
“Are Black coaches truly given the same deal as the rest of their contemporaries? Are they granted the same opportunities? The same salaries? Are they cut the same amount of slack? I’ll let you guess the answers there—or research them yourself.”
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer asserted that his sentiments are coming from the point of view of a black man. He also said it could be applicable to women and people of color:
"This is my perspective as a Black man. But the same is true for women and all people of color: if you’re a fan of the game, it’s probably not because you feel represented by it.”
Watching the way the NFL is treating Black coaches has me pissed off. Plain and simple.
Until they fix this, I cannot keep spending my weekends supporting the league.
More: thelastchip.com/p/i-am-finishe…
The Dolphins fired Flores in January after three seasons with the team. He had a record of 24-25, including a 19-14 record in his last two years in Miami. Culley was let go after one season by the Texans. He had a 4-13 record in Houston.
With both Flores and Culley fired, the NFL currently has one black coach: Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The NFL currently has one black head coach, Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh. Obviously there are many open to jobs to fill now, but it's time for the NFL and team ownership to put action behind their words that diversity matters. We need to see tangible results.
Is Chris Bosh right about discrimination among black HCs?
The point that Bosh is trying to make is that 57.5 percent of NFL players are black, but only one head coach is Black. Another example is Jim Caldwell and his tenure with the Detroit Lions.
And over 50% of the players in the NFL are black. You NEED head coaches, GMs, presidents, etc that represent the majority of players twitter.com/joytaylortalks…
Caldwell was the Lions head coach for four seasons (2014-2017), having a 36-28 record. He led Detroit to two playoff appearances (2014 and 2016) but was fired by the team after a 9-7 season in 2017.
Since the team fired the now 67-year-old coach, they have won 17 games since 2018 with no playoff appearances.
Put another way: over the last 20 years, the Lions have had seven full-time coaches
Jim Caldwell had three winning seasons in four years
The other six guys had one winning season in the other 16 years
Bosh, like some people, wants the playing field to be fair in terms of coaching. Does the NFL have a bias issue?, as Bosh said. We will have to wait and see if this issue is addressed sooner rather than later.