Leaders of None: Football Coaches and the Hegemony of Oppression

Abstract

Introducing a special issue looking at football coaches, this essay challenges readers to think about the immense power and privileges afforded by white male coaches alongside their refusal to leverage their immense platforms to advance justice within and beyond the coaching ranks. Focusing on the politics of football coaches and the entrenched place of white men on the sidelines, this special issue seeks to demonstrate the power and importance of football coaches as a measuring stick of race, gender, sexuality, politics, and so much more. To understand the history of football coaches is to understand America, its persistent color lines, reactionary politics, and everything from the media to the 2024 election.