No, Trump Is Not The Reason No Black NFL Coaches Were Hired

No, President Trump is not responsible for the lack of black coaches hired in the latest NFL hiring cycle. Still, that appears to be where the conversation is heading.

ESPN’s Andscape published a column Tuesday arguing that NFL owners sent a message following the Trump administration’s efforts to phase out diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the federal level.

"At a time when the Trump administration has declared war on diversity, equity and inclusion, NFL owners, most of whom donate money largely to the Republican Party, seem to be making a statement. No longer compelled to cast a wide net to find the best candidate, the owners seem committed to whitening the head coaching ranks and making sure those ranks stay white for the near future," author William C. Rhoden wrote.

Later that day, Sports Illustrated reporter Albert Breer said there were "concerns" that the NFL canceled an accelerator program for minority coaches to appease the Trump administration, which would need to approve the league’s equity deal with ESPN.

"Number one is the Rooney Rule," Breer told Dan Patrick while outlining questions that should be put to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. "There were 10 head coach hires. It’s all done now. Not one African-American hire. There are only three African-American head coaches left. It also happens to be in the year they canceled the accelerator.

"They generally had this networking event for minority coaches in the spring. This year they canceled it. There was some suspicion that was done because of the deal they were trying to do with the current administration, the merger. There were some moving pieces there."

Breer added additional context.

"At the very least, there were rumblings out there that while the merger was going through, because the Justice Department needs to approve it, there were rumblings that they were going to do what they needed to do to appease the current administration to get this stuff pushed through."

He also noted that Goodell posed for a photo with Trump this year.

"At the very least, I know there were people that felt like it was bad optics that they were canceling that event, and that they had a photo op with the president to announce the 2027 draft in the Oval Office. That was the first photo op that a sitting commissioner has done with the president in 22 years."

"So, you had the combination of the merger, the diversity event getting canceled, and then the photo op with the president all happening at once. There are people that put those pieces together. So, I think there are big-picture questions that need to be asked on the Rooney Rule."

Breer is one of the more respected NFL reporters, and there is little reason to doubt that league sources are floating this theory to him and others. That said, the idea that Trump played a role in the NFL’s hiring cycle is reckless.

For one, there is no evidence of it. That alone should be a major hurdle for claims this serious. More importantly, if the NFL were genuinely concerned about appeasing Trump to secure approval for the merger, it would be acting far differently in public.

The league would not have booked Bad Bunny to perform at the Super Bowl. It also would not have doubled down on openly anti-Trump musical acts by booking Green Day for the opening ceremony, just days after the band changed lyrics in multiple songs to protest Trump, ICE, and his advisers.

Further, Front Office Sports reported on January 12 that there was "optimism" that the NFL-ESPN deal would close by April. Sources told OutKick there was near certainty it would close even sooner. Put simply, the NFL and its owners knew the deal was effectively done well before teams fired and hired their coaches. The two sides announced the completion of the deal on Monday.

US President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump (L) watch the pre-game show before Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 9, 2025. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)

In many ways, invoking the president in connection to the hiring cycle is a peak example of Trump derangement syndrome (TDS), a social virus that causes people to blame Trump for everything they dislike. 

There is likely no single explanation for the racial makeup of NFL head coaches. It is also difficult to draw firm conclusions from such a small sample size. Ten openings across a 32-team league is not a reliable dataset.

As for this cycle specifically, few of the top candidates were black. Teams have prioritized offensive minds in recent years, often referred to as the Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay effect. The most discussed black offensive candidate this year was Nate Scheelhasse, the 35-year-old passing game coordinator for the Rams.

If there is a structural issue, it is more likely that black coaches are not advancing through offensive staffs at the same rate.

And despite what Andscape suggests, Donald Trump is not influencing the skin color of offensive coordinators.

Still, now that this has become a talking point, expect Ryan Clark or Cam Newton to accuse Trump of costing black coaches opportunities by the end of the week.