African-American Head Coaches in NFL History

From Art Shell to Tony Dungy, African-American head coaches have left their mark on the NFL landscape for more than 20 years. However, for a sport that is played by a predominately African-American group of athletes, the ratio swings in the other direction quickly when examining the men calling the shots on game day. In 2008, the league hit a high water mark, employing seven African-American head coaches at once for the first time ever.

  1. Art Shell

    • Prior to 1989, no NFL team had ever been led by an African-American coach. The first one elevated to the ranks of NFL head coaches was Art Shell of the Oakland Raiders. Born on Nov. 26, 1946, Shell played at the college and professional levels as an offensive tackle, which would later earn him a spot in the NFL’s Hall of Fame. In just his second year as the Raider head coach, Shell guided the Raiders to a 12-4 regular season record and the AFC Championship game, where they lost to the Buffalo Bills, 51-3. Raider owner Al Davis fired Shell after a losing campaign in the 1994 season, but rehired him in 2006, before releasing him yet again the next year.

    Denny Green

    • The second African-American man hired as an NFL head coach was Denny Green. In 1998, Green led the Minnesota Vikings on a scoring rampage that shattered the previous NFL record set by the Washington Redskins in 1982. Like Shell before him, Green proved an African-American coach could lead a team to the conference championship game. However, just as Shell did eight years prior, Green’s team lost to the eventual Super Bowl losers.

    Lovie Smith

    • One of the first African-American head coaches, alongside Tony Dungy, to reach the Super Bowl is the Chicago Bears’ head man, Lovie Smith. Having reached the Super Bowl in 2001 as the St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator, Smith was prepared for what awaited his first appearance in the game as a head coach, when his Bears fell to the Dungy-led Indianapolis Colts.

    Tony Dungy

    • In his second stint as an NFL head coach, Tony Dungy defeated fellow African-American coach Lovie Smith in the Super Bowl in 2007. Known for his high character, gentle demeanor and intellect, Dungy is considered by many to be the mark by which all other contemporary NFL coaches are measured.