Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk is heading into his first year as head coach of Southern University after spending one year as a running backs coach at Colorado. But one of just over a dozen Black head coaches in college football right now - a stat that doesn't sit well with him.
In an interview with USA Today where Brent Schrotenboer explored the lack of Black coaches in college, Faulk went off on how difficult it has become for any player - let alone Black players - to become a coach after playing. He said it feels as though if you're successful on the field, the powers that be just assume that you won't be successful in football off the field.
“Football’s the only sport that players struggle to come off the field and become a coach,” Faulk said. “They look at us like if you’re successful at the game playing then you won’t be successful at the game in any other capacity..."
Faulk pointed to rare instances where a player can become a coach or an executive such as Matt Ryan as a top executive for the Atlanta Falcons or Josh McCown as QBs coach for the Minnesota Vikings. He remarked that in the NBA, a player like JJ Redick can be handed the head coaching job of the Lakers with no coaching experience, which is almost unheard of in the NFL.
“I’m just gonna say what it is,” Faulk said. “Matt Ryan can be a G.M. Why do other players kind of go through and jump through the hoops to be a G.M.?”
“What’s the quarterback [coach] that’s now in Minnesota?” Faulk added, referring to former NFL quarterback Josh McCown. “He was in Houston. They were about to give him the [head coaching] job... He barely played. Played a few games in the league. But it happens. You can be JJ Redick and never have coaching experience and get the Lakers job. But can Marshall Faulk get the Rams job? Hell no. It is what it is.”
Pushback
Football fans don't accept Faulk's reasoning though. In recent years there has been tons of pushback against efforts to encourage diversity and X in particular is a hub of people who despise anyone and anything that encourages it.
The fact that there are 13 out of over 100 college football programs with Black head coaches - less than there were 15 years ago - does not move the need for fans.
And in this media climate, even showing evidence of an actual, person-to-person conspiracy to freeze out Black candidates for coaching jobs won't change hearts and minds either.
As sad as it is to say, Faulk is basically speaking into an uncaring void.
