Impact of latest NFL diversity-enrichment event will be reflected later – during hiring process | Opinion

ATLANTA — In some ways, the NFL’s inaugural "Coach and Front Office Accelerator" program that kicked off on Monday, a day before a round of league meetings, was like a throwback event.

Here was another in a series of efforts over many years to push, promote and prod diversity and inclusion as more than 60 potential head coaches and executives (a maximum of two per team) were invited for two days of lectures, strategy sessions, workshops and networking.

It was reminiscent of the similarly themed symposiums held at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania nearly a decade ago. Before that, back in the early 2000s, the NFL teamed with Stanford University for week-long education programs aimed to groom executives. More recently, the league hosted a "Quarterback Summit" for four years here, adding a branch in 2021 with the Ozzie Newsome GM forum. It has been one program after another.

Brian Gardner, the Tennessee Titans director of pro scouting, has pretty much been to all of them. He was also at a day-long enrichment session arranged by former defensive coordinator Brian Stewart back in the early 2000s at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters.

All of these years later, you might think a veteran like Gardner would be skeptical, if not cynical, about the effectiveness of such events when the NFL keeps rolling with the sorry results – particularly when it comes to head coaches – that makes it a constant target for criticism.

Yet Gardner was a burst of positive energy as he bolted from one session to the next.

"It’s beautiful," Gardner told USA TODAY Sports after attending a workshop that dealt with the challenges of the GM role. "I’ve learned more in a half-day than I have in five years."

Maybe this is the place for such compressed impact. On Tuesday, the participants – primarily Black men, with a few women – will engage in "speed-networking" sessions with NFL owners, bouncing from station to station with the hope of leaving the right impression.

"We wanted to have multiple types of engagement," Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity officer, told USA TODAY Sports.

Beane has been with the league for almost two years, so he undoubtedly represents some fresh blood. He knows. In a league where more than 70% of the players are Black, there are just three Black head coaches among the six minorities – and over the past four years just three Blacks have been hired for 27 openings. There are seven Black GMs, five of whom were hired within the past two cycles. Mention the history with various events such as the "Accelerator" and Beane swears this is different.

"The difference is that all 32 owners are involved," Beane said.

The sentiment was echoed by Michael Huyghue, whose long and varied executive trek includes a vice president’s role with the Jacksonville Jaguars for several years after it launched as an expansion franchise. Huyghue was on the front lines of these issues in the 1990s and here he is again, working with the Fritz Pollard Alliance.

"You can tell the climate is different," Huyghue said.

NFL NEWSLETTER: Sign up now to get football news delivered to your inbox

'WE ARE COUNTING VOTES': Daniel Snyder's issues force other NFL owners to mull drastic options

Of course, the NFL owners can hardly be viewed as the cavalry. These are the same NFL owners that, as a group, never gave Colin Kaepernick another shot after he dared to launch a protest movement by kneeling during the national anthem.

And these same owners, portrayed as being suddenly more "woke" on diversity and inclusion issues, are also being sued by Brian Flores, the former Miami Dolphins coach (and current Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach), for violations of the Rooney Rule. With three teams (the New York Giants, Denver Broncos and Dolphins) named as plaintiffs along with the league as a whole in the case alleging, among other things, that interviews for at least two head coaching positions were shams, the NFL can’t hurt its defense by ramping up its diversity efforts.

At the opening session, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank told the attendees that diversity and inclusion is "some of the most important work" the NFL can do. He insisted that owners are committed as partners. It sounded so good, so spirited.

Blank also said, "We must get better and we must be more intentional to be better."

While Blank's track record for diversity is better than most in the NFL – his board of advisers is diverse, he sold former running back Warrick Dunn a small stake in the franchise and in 2021, he hired an African-American, Terry Fontenot, as GM –  it hasn't resulted in the hiring of a Black head coach. For instance, he twice passed over Jim Caldwell in hiring Bobby Petrino (2007) and Mike Smith (2008). Before that, he picked Jim Mora, Jr. over Lovie Smith (2004). Time will tell whether the decision in 2021 to choose current coach Arthur Smith rather than Eric Bieniemy was the best move.

So, no, Blank hasn’t always proven to be "intentional" while acknowledging to the participants that hiring decisions can often favor, "People we know better."

Hasn’t that been heard before.

No, the shop talk at this week’s event won’t hurt. The networking, including a Monday night reception, can be beneficial. The focus for the teams to enhance career development emphasis is needed, too, as Falcons president Rich McKay pointed out.

"It’s the engagement," Ray Farmer, the former Cleveland Browns GM, told USA TODAY Sports. Farmer recently joined the Los Angeles Rams as a scouting consultant. "How do people know me? You know yourself, but that’s only one part of it. How do people see me? Who’s real? You or your reputation?"

Then again, exposure, reputation and résumés are always the issue. Here’s four names, in no particular order: Leslie Frazier. Byron Leftwich. Raheem Morris. Eric Bieniemy.

The four coordinators have produced some of the NFL’s best work in recent seasons, with Super Bowl hardware for most of them to prove it. Yet they still haven’t been promoted to the best jobs, given the best opportunities like others with their results (or lesser results) have been granted. They’ve been passed over while several white coaches with lesser résumés get opportunities – and in some cases in their first go-around on the interview circuit.

For all of the programs, symposiums, policies and lip service, the eyeball test is rather clear. The effectiveness of the "Accelerator" will be measured in the coming hiring cycles. Let’s see whether there’s an acceleration with the opportunities granted to minorities – intentional or not – when the hiring decisions must be made.

Gardner said it, to some degree, as he peeked into a ballroom a few minutes before another session was to begin.

"There are so many guys in that room who are qualified and have paid their dues," he said. "It all comes down to fit. And if it’s not a fit for me, then a fit for someone in that room."

Blank sounded earnest when they told the participants that they were in the room because they were chosen to be here for their potential to be head coaches and general managers, to be the future leaders in the league.

Don’t we know that already about so many of these candidates?

It still seems like such a crapshoot. When Gardner, who has worked in the league for more than 30 years, was asked whether he is ready to be a GM, he didn’t directly answer the question – yet responded with a dose of reality.

"The best you can do is prepare, have a plan and hope to have an opportunity," he said. "You have to trust the process. And you have to be in the place at the right time with the right people."

Again already.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL’s inaugural 'Coach and Front Office Accelerator' kicked off Monday