With segregation so dominant in professional sports, there was one area of athletics in which African Americans could compete. This area was the Olympics and an athlete named Jesse Owens excelled on this worldwide stage. “Jesse Owens is perhaps the best-remembered Olympic star of all time. He is famous for his world-record success in

I think that the NFL rule on interviewing minority coaches is good in theory but lacks substance in reality. Owners will undoubtedly comply with the rule and interview minority candidates. However, most of these interviews will never come to anything more than an owner talking to someone about the position. The rule will not lead to anyone being hired. While I do not believe the current rule will work, at the same time, I do not know of a better way to try and curb the problem. I do not know if there is a clear cut way to ensure that minority candidates will not be passed over based on their race. As far as collegiate coaches go, I believe that minority coaches could greatly benefit athletic programs. As stated, over fifty percent of division I college athletes are African American. Why not hire a coach that these students can relate to? As far as we have come in professional sports, why not take that next step and hire coaches that are not all white. Are our beliefs in twenty-first century America still so archaic that we cannot hire a person with a skin tone other than white or someone other than European descent to coach our professional and collegiate sports teams? If the answer to this question is yes, then we do not have a problem in American sports, we have a problem in American society itself.

Today, in 2003, race and sports is still a much talked about topic in the area of coaching. Most recently, this topic has been debated in the National Football League. “In the last week of July, the National Football League fined Matt Millen, president of the Detroit Lions, $200,000. Why? Because he had hired the head coach he wanted-Steve Mariucci, who had been let go by the San Francisco 49ers-without interviewing any black candidates” (Nordlinger 1). This prompted the NFL to create a rule stating that any team in search of a head coach must interview at least one minority candidate. “Teams had better interview these black candidates "in good faith," they say, and "with an open mind” (Nordlinger 2). Many NFL owners have a similar complaint: “They can't win for losing. If they hire a white coach-even while fulfilling the Rooney Rule to perfection-they may be seen as social villains. If they hire a black coach, they will win applause (until they feel like firing that coach, in which event they'd better have a passel of black candidates at the ready” (Nordlinger 2). The NFL, an

Some topics in this essay:
African American, African Americans, Sylvester Croom, Sports NFL, San Francisco, League Football, , Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Rooney Rule, african american, jackie robinson, race sports, professional sports, head coaches, head coach, national football league, national football, football league, black white, negro leagues, american head coaches, nordlinger 2 nfl, african american players, divided black white,