Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation Excellence Awards during the NFL Super Bowl LVI

FRITZ POLLARD ALLILANCE FOUNDATION 17th ANNUAL JOHNNIE L. COCHRAN, JR. EXCELLENCE AWARDS

During The NFL Super bowl LVI in Los Angeles, The Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation hosted its 17th Annual Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., Salute to Excellence Awards on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 12 p.m. at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel (506 Grand Ave). The event was organized to recognize the achievements and long-standing commitment of individuals and organizations dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Attendees included Commissioner Roger Goodell, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Coach Jenifer King, NFL Legend Jim Brown and other notable luminaries. Channel A TV crew were on location to document the elegant event.

HISTORY

After the 2001 NFL season, two of the league’s three African American head coaches were fired.  This left the league, in which roughly 70% of players were of color, with only one African American head coach. Indeed, in the league’s 80-year history, there had only been six.      

In response to the firings, and in light of the league’s poor coaching diversity track record, civil rights lawyers Cyrus Mehri and Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. alleged that African American coaches were systematically disadvantaged in pursuing head coaching positions.  To build their case, they commissioned Dr. Janice Madden, a labor economist at the University of Pennsylvania, to analyze the win-loss records of all NFL head coaches over the previous 15 years and to then compare them by race.  Dr. Madden’s analysis revealed that no matter how the data were sliced African American head coaches were outperforming white head coaches:

• In their first season on the job, African American head coaches averaged 2.7 more wins than white head coaches
• In their final season before being terminated, African American head coaches averaged 1.3 more wins than white head coaches
• Overall, African American head coaches averaged 1.1 more wins than white head coaches
• African American head coaches qualified for the playoffs more frequently than white coaches (by a 67% to 39% margin)

In conclusion, Dr. Madden wrote, “No matter how we look at success, black coaches are performing better.  These data are consistent with blacks having to be better coaches than the whites in order to get a job as head coach in the NFL.” 

With Dr. Madden’s study, which was both statistically significant and peer reviewed, as the foundation, Mehri and Cochran drafted a report – titled Black Coaches in the NFL: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities – and released it at a press conference during which they threatened litigation if the NFL did not address the issue of inequity in coaching opportunities. 

Ultimately, the parties did not litigate.  They negotiated.  And from the negotiation was born the Rooney rule.  Named after Dan Rooney, who championed the idea among NFL owners, the Rooney Rule required that every club looking for a head coach interview at least one minority candidate.

To support the Rule, and to organize the NFL’s community of color, John Wooten, a trailblazing African American front office executive during the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s, called a meeting at the 2003 NFL Combine.  Over a hundred coaches, scouts and front office personnel of color showed up, and Wooten, Mehri and former San Diego Chargers Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow stressed the importance of collectively pushing for equal employment opportunity throughout the NFL.  The group resolved to form an organization and took the name Fritz Pollard Alliance in honor of Fritz Pollard, the NFL’s first African American head coach.    

Wooten became the FPA’s first chairman, and with help from a small volunteer staff, including Hall of Famers Kellen Winslow and Harry Carson – both of whom have served in the Executive Director role – he worked tirelessly to grow the organization and guide it in serving the NFL’s community of color.         

The FPA’s advocacy with respect to the Rooney Rule – which now also applies to the general manager position – as well as to other diversity and inclusion initiatives has unquestionably transformed the complexion of the NFL.  Since the FPA’s founding, clubs have hired 14 head coaches of color and 12 general managers of color.  And given the opportunity, those head coaches and general managers of color have thrived.  Indeed, since 2007, 10 NFL clubs have reached the Super Bowl led by a head coach or general manager of color.  Before the FPA’s founding, it had never happened.

Although the FPA has always been, and continues to be, principally focused on achieving equal employment opportunity in the NFL, we recognize that the NFL does not exist in a bubble and that equal opportunity efforts are necessary across society.  As such we have sought to inspire, and in many cases have directly advised, both public and private sector entities in pursuing diversity and inclusion through implementing the Rooney Rule concept.  Among them: the United States Congress, the Division I-A Athletic Directors’ Association, Nike, and the United Kingdom’s Professional Footballers’ Association. 

Wooten retired in 2019 and longtime NFL executive Rod Graves took over the FPA’s day to day operations.  While we are proud of our history and what we have accomplished, we are eager to continue the fight.  We intend to be as impactful going forward as we have been in the past.

FRITZ POLLARD ALLILANCE FOUNDATION 17th ANNUAL JOHNNIE L. COCHRAN, JR. EXCELLENCE AWARDS MOMENTS