But I always kept the faith, kept working and kept trying to learn my craft, and finally, the opportunity came. I didn’t know it was going to happen in the XFL, and at times, part of me probably doubted that my chances were real because teams rarely hire special teams coaches as head coaches. The truth is that I always believed I’d be a head coach. “I still believe that it’s going to happen. “Absolutely, I still have faith,” Blevins says of becoming an NFL head coach. Will success in the XFL actually lead to greater opportunities for minorities in decision-making positions within the NFL? A big question now is whether NFL owners view it the same way. The league has diverse representation in its management and along the sideline, and it embraces the idea of being a developmental league for players, coaches and executives. Perhaps that stems from the league’s current owners having diverse backgrounds: Garcia is of Cuban descent, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has African and Samoan lineage. The beauty of the XFL is that it has shown itself to be an equal-opportunity employer. (Randy Litzinger / Icon Sportswire via AP) “(More equal opportunities) will happen over a long period of time, all of a sudden,” says Reggie Barlow, who was the XFL’s Coach of the Year in 2023. I’m grateful for the opportunity the XFL has given us.” It (a leveling of opportunities) will happen over a long period of time, all of a sudden. “No ‘BCD’ for me,” says Barlow, who led the DC Defenders to a spot in the XFL title game. The NFL likes to say diversity, equity and inclusion are core principles of the league, but that precept has yet to trickle down to the field, where capable and qualified minorities are consistently passed over for White counterparts with lesser experience and weaker resumes.īrandon Staley can have only one year of coordinator experience in the NFL and be five years removed from working as an assistant at a small college yet still get the head-coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers, but Reggie Barlow, a former NFL player, can have winning records as a head coach at Alabama State and Virginia State, be named XFL Coach of the Year in 2023, and still not get a sniff from an NFL team - for any job. It’s truly shameful that Blevins and other minority coaches feel they have to continue the pursuit of their dreams elsewhere because most NFL owners have not shown they will have a legitimate opportunity to climb the professional ladder. This will mark the fifth consecutive year that the country’s most popular professional sports league will open a season with only three coaches who identify as Black. That’s a damning indictment of the NFL, where, sadly, Black coaches continue to struggle to find the same opportunities. Let that last sentence marinate for a moment: The XFL gives me the chance to show what I can do, to show I can lead men. The XFL gives me the chance to show what I can do, to show I can lead men.” “I was just trying to get up there to New York and win some games. “I wasn’t looking for anything or thinking about anything other than training camp at the time,” Blevins says. That was followed by another round of interviews with Dany Garcia, chairwoman and owner of the XFL Russ Brandon, the league president and Brian Westbrook, the Vipers’ director of player engagement. With only the weekend to prepare, he participated in a virtual call with Ross and Doug Whaley, the senior vice president of personnel for the XFL. He decided to pursue the Vipers job not only because he had a genuine interest in the position, but also because he and many other Black coaches believe they do not have the luxury or privilege to decline interviews. He had spoken with at least seven NFL teams over the last few years about a coordinator position on special teams but walked away feeling some clubs were just going through the motions and checking the box that calls for them to interview a diverse candidate. “I was kind of thinking to myself that it could be a token deal,” recalls Blevins, revealing the scar tissue from past experiences. He knew Ross casually and had spoken to him briefly at the NFL Scouting Combine earlier in the year, but the possibility of being a head coach in the league never came up. The inquiry caught Blevins off guard because there was no forewarning. The second-year league was seeking to fill its vacant head-coach position with the Vegas Vipers, and Ross wanted to know if Blevins had interest in interviewing for the job.
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