University of Maryland football coach Mike Locksley has created the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches, a nonprofit that will seek to address racial disparities in major coaching roles in the sport.
The second-year Terrapins coach announced the coalition Thursday in a press release. One of its goals is to create a “candidates list” of Black coaches for NFL teams, vetted by its board of directors.
“When I took the Maryland job last year and looked at the landscape of college football, I thought to myself, ’There’s something missing. I’m on the back nine of my career, and the pathway to becoming a head coach is still as difficult as when I got into the business in 1992,’ ” Locksley said. “I wanted to create an organization that would be able to help prepare, promote and produce the next group of coaches coming up through the ranks at every level.”
Doug Williams, the Washington Football Team executive who was the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, is on the coalition’s board of directors.
So are Alabama coach Nick Saban, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, retired Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome and former Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow.
Locksley and Williams have worked together on the Quarterback Coaching Summit, an annual clinic Williams co-founded to give coaches of color a chance to advance their careers.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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