Who Was The First Black Head Coach In The NFL?
The first black head coach in the NFL was Fritz Pollard, who coached the Akron Pros in 1921. Pollard was also the first black player in the NFL, debuting in 1919.
Fritz Pollard
Fritz Pollard was the first black head coach in the NFL. He coached the Akron Pros in 1921, and he is also credited with being the first black person to coach a major professional sports team. Pollard was an All-American football player at Brown University, and he went on to play pro football for several years before becoming a coach. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
Art Shell
African Americans have been playing professional football since the 1920s, but it wasn’t until after World War II that black coaches began to appear in the NFL. Fritz Pollard was the league’s first black head coach, leading the Akron Pros in 1921. Pollard also became the first black coach to lead a team to an NFL championship when the Pros won the title in 1920.
However, it wasn’t until 1962 that another black coach took over an NFL team. That year, Willie Lanier was named head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, becoming the second African American to hold that position in league history.
Lanier was followed by Art Shell in 1968, who became head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Shell is considered one of the greatest offensive linemen in NFL history and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989. He is also one of only two African American coaches to win a Super Bowl, doing so with the Raiders in XV following the 1980 season.
Dennis Green
Dennis Green was the first black head coach in the NFL. He was hired by the Arizona Cardinals in 2004, and he held the position for two years.
Green began his coaching career in 1967 as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa. He then spent four years as an assistant coach with the Oakland Raiders, before moving to the NFL as an offensive coordinator with the 49ers in 1979. He remained with the 49ers for six years, before spending a year as head coach of Stanford University in 1986.
In 1992, Green was hired as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and he led the team to eight playoff appearances in 10 seasons. He was fired by the Vikings in 2001, but he was quickly hired by the Cardinals.
Green had a successful career as a head coach, posting a record of 115-95-0 (.548). He won division championships with the Cardinals (in 2008) and Vikings (in 1998-2000), and he coached two teams to conference championship games (the Cardinals in 2008 and Vikings in 1998).
Hue Jackson
Hue Jackson became the first black head coach in the NFL in 2011 when he was hired by the Oakland Raiders. He was also the first black head coach to win a Super Bowl, doing so as the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens in 2013. Jackson was fired by the Raiders midway through the 2017 season after compiling a record of 8-8.
