Racial Integration of Coaching

Abstract

Using National Football League (NFL) data from 1987 to 2007, we examine the hiring of African American head coaches. Our results partly support an innovation explanation in that integration proceeded more rapidly in larger population centers. In contrast, we find only mixed and weak evidence that winning organizations proceeded first in hiring Black managers as in the case of using Black players. This difference in the hiring process of management versus labor may reflect a difference in the relative importance of endowment versus training. Our evidence also indicates that individual owner preferences matter along with changes in social pressures over time. As with player integration, it appears that a full generation is needed for the process to work itself out.