Employment Equity in the CFL

[the paw]

I was reading the 3downnation article by Gasson, which took the position that the Als were being somewhat regressive in replacing a black head coach (Khari) with a white one (Maas).  I'm not sure I buy the critique, as in a sample group of only 9 you can get some wacky percentages.  But the point remains that with Khari out and Bobby Dyce getting promoted, only 2 out of 9 head coaches are black.

That got me thinking, so I did a scan of all the coaching staffs in the league to see where we stand.  Now, there are a couple of caveats.  First, staffs are still in transition, so it is a bit of a moving target.  Secondly, I was simply going by the eyeball test of on-line photos, so doubt there may be some misassumptions (case in point, is Mark Kilam biracial or simply Greek with a deep tan?)

Anyway, based on my pseudo-scientific survey, it looks like 36 of 90 coaches (40%) are persons of colour.  Not too bad, I think.  Some points of interest:

1.  Team that did best was the Elks, with 7/10 coaches persons of colour.

2.  Alouettes were the worst with 1/10 which was me counting Anthony Calvillo as Hispanic.

3.  Riders were almost as bad with 2/7, but they have a few openings to fill, so they might improve that. 

4.  BC Lions were the only team with a female coach.

For the record, I only counted positional coaches, head coaches and coordinators.  I did not count video guys, Chris Jones' Chief of Staff (yes he really has one), etc.

[Jesse]

I brought up race on the other site as soon as they announced the 5 candidates. It looked sketchy at best to me.

Khari was fired because "discipline" and you only interview inside hires of that "undisciplined" team, with the only outside interview going to the person with the least amount of personal control we've seen in recent memory. And having AC as the only person of colour...do you really need to have his resume to be considered in Montreal?

It also caused me to go through our HC list...And, while I don't know all the names, it seems as if we've never hired a black HC? Not a super cool history.

[Tiger]

I think you need to look at more than just numbers.

For example the CFL has Dyce now and Steinauer has been a fixture as head coaches. 

So 2 of 9 coaches or 22% are of African American heritage. 

Canada?s population of African descent is about 5% and United States 12%. So there are more head coaches in the CFL than either population. Now I do not have the numbers but if you are looking at number of players that are of African descent it may be low.  Is that what you mean?

In 2019 we had 3 head coaches of African descent, so 33%. Chamblin, Steinauer and Claybrooks.

The CFL had a long history of allowing African Americans the ability to play quarterback and coach. Currently there are no starting African American quarterbacks, except maybe arguably Vernon Adams.

If Rourke comes back should BC start Adams? Should the Bombers trade Collaros for Adams or Dominique Davis as a starter?

What about the fact there are no indigenous quarterbacks or coaches given the Canadian population?  What about over representation of Mexican quarterbacks in Calvillo and Fajardo given the very small number of Mexicans?

Is there racism? Sure. It is a complex issue that needs to be addressed, continually.  Looking at numbers and requiring numbers is probably not effective. This is the American approach.  Don?t get caught up in this.  The Americans have not done so well.

I recently read a great book The Rise of the black Quarterback.  I suggest you read it. 

At the end of the day we know there is racism and we all need to do our part and address this.  We need to treat people as we want to be treated with decency and respect.

Love y?all - Merry Christmas

[Jesse]

The population argument is a bit of a red herring.

New coaches are often drawn from former players. The percentage of black players in football is far greater than 5 or 12 percent.

[TBURGESS]

Saying you want to hire a black candidate is the same as saying you want to hire a white candidate. Both are equally racist. Race shouldn't have anything to do with hiring decisions.

[the paw]

The population argument is a bit of a red herring.

New coaches are often drawn from former players. The percentage of black players in football is far greater than 5 or 12 percent.

I agree.  I haven?t looked at all the rosters, but I would say that the 2022 Bombers were about 50-50, and that seems fairly typical for the league.

Not all coaches are former players of course, so we shouldn?t jump to the conclusion that the percentage of coaches should be identical to that for players, they are both just benchmarks.

I haven?t gone through the senior management teams (presidents, GMs, AGMs etc), but the examples of Pinball, Steinauer, Hervey and Geroy Simon seem to indicate progress is being made on that front as well.  Of course the counterexample of Kavis Reed reminds us that progress is not linear?.

[Jesse]

Saying you want to hire a black candidate is the same as saying you want to hire a white candidate. Both are equally racist. Race shouldn't have anything to do with hiring decisions.

Another red herring.

No one is suggesting the need to hire a black candidate to any specific role. But when the numbers obviously skew in one direction over time, the argument becomes, have they been given equal opportunity?

[dd]

I truly think teams hire the best candidate available regardless of colour. We as a society in Canada, as well as the cfl, are all about diversity and inclusivity. Colour of skin is not an issue and those suggesting such are looking for something that isn?t there.

[TBURGESS]

No one is suggesting the need to hire a black candidate to any specific role. But when the numbers obviously skew in one direction over time, the argument becomes, have they been given equal opportunity?

Folks are suggesting that the color of a person's skin should be a hiring criteria. That's racist.

I'm all for equal opportunity for everyone, but equal opportunity doesn't mean equal results & that's what's being talked about here.

X% of black folks in society doesn't mean that there 'should be' X% of black folks in CFL coaching any more than Y% of white folks in society 'should' mean Y% of white players in the CFL. Both are equally racist.

[the paw]

I truly think teams hire the best candidate available regardless of colour. We as a society in Canada, as well as the cfl, are all about diversity and inclusivity. Colour of skin is not an issue and those suggesting such are looking for something that isn?t there.

You don't know this to be true unless you track the outcomes.  Based on the data in this thread, I would say that the CFL is doing pretty well, all things considered.  

Your broader statement about Canada's love for diversity and inclusion is a little less evident in our collective history.  Not to say we don't have those values, but we certainly lived up to them as completely as we might have.  The Canadian Museum on Human Rights has many stories about where we could have been better.  We don't have to necessarily hang our heads, but neither should we bury them in the sand....

[VictorRomano]

In a profession where winning is the only measure of success, I only care about meritocracy - everything else is irrelevant.  The most-qualified, best-performing person for the job should get the job, regardless of anything else.  Their socio-economic background, creed, culture, skin color, religion, political affiliation - literally all irrelevant when it comes to wins and losses.

[the paw]

In a profession where winning is the only measure of success, I only care about meritocracy - everything else is irrelevant.  The most-qualified, best-performing person for the job should get the job, regardless of anything else.  Their socio-economic background, creed, culture, skin color, religion, political affiliation - literally all irrelevant when it comes to wins and losses.

That's fine to say, but that's not how things play out in the real world.  An evaluation of diversity-based hires in the NFL showed that despite black head coaches outperforming the average, they had shorter tenures and were fired more frequently.  That doesn't happen by accident.

https://www.playcanada.com/news/cfl-diversity-coaching-front-office-nfl-flores/
 

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

In a profession where winning is the only measure of success, I only care about meritocracy - everything else is irrelevant.  The most-qualified, best-performing person for the job should get the job, regardless of anything else.  Their socio-economic background, creed, culture, skin color, religion, political affiliation - literally all irrelevant when it comes to wins and losses.

Very true, every GM's neck is already on the line for the coaches they hire with very few missteps allowed, the stakes are too high for them to also worry about inclusivity.  Maybe a great objective if you're middle management working in a large multi-national organization, but a CFL team is run more like a small business than a large corporation.

As for Khari specifically, no evidence he's ever been a great coach and I'd be surprised he still has the H.C. title in 2 years time.

[dd]

You don't know this to be true unless you track the outcomes.  Based on the data in this thread, I would say that the CFL is doing pretty well, all things considered.  

Your broader statement about Canada's love for diversity and inclusion is a little less evident in our collective history.  Not to say we don't have those values, but we certainly lived up to them as completely as we might have.  The Canadian Museum on Human Rights has many stories about where we could have been better.  We don't have to necessarily hang our heads, but neither should we bury them in the sand....

What?s in the past is in the past and you?re right we could have done waaay better. But present day, I would say Canada is a very inclusive country with well below average prejudice. Is there none, no. But I know in the social circles that I am in for the past 60 years there sure as heck isn?t. I have a phillipino daughter in law and a native son in-law. That didn?t happen 60 years ago.

And don?t compare Canada and the cfl with the nfl for prejudice. They are still battling race issues big time. Ain?t nobody kneeling during our national anthem

[GOLDMEMBER]

I tend agree with dd and TBurg. You qualify you get opportunity. Very strange some think this is an issue in the CFL. I for one think it 100% is not! I mean look at the heights Pinball has achieved! Even Ed Hervey ascended to GM! He was not very good or fair to players but he still got to be GM for a significant amount of time.