Maryland head coach Mike Locksley will announce the creation of the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches later today, the NFL shares.
Locksley, like so many others, grew frustrated with the lack of minority hires in college and professional football and decided to do something about it. The NFL has 3 black head coaches out of 32 teams, and there are just 14 black head coaches at the FBS level out of 130 schools. Locksley's goal with the NCMFC is to help prepare, promote and produce the next group of coaches at every level.
"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 shared with NFL.com
The board of directors that Locksley has assembled is pretty impressive and includes Nick Saban, Ozzie Newsome, Mike Tomlin, Bill Polian, Doug Willians, Buddy Pough, Debbie Yow, and Desiree Reed-Francois. Every person on the board of directors is someone accomplished in their field that has either hired head coaches or coordinators, or filled upper-level positions with minorities during the course of their career, Locksley shares.
The Coalition is expected to begin to identify candidates in the next four to five months, according to the article, and from there they'll leverage media relationships to help highlight their qualified minority candidates that they've hand selected.
Depending on the level you coach at, membership fees run from $50 - $250 per year. Those interested in joining can register here.
Head here to read the full piece from NFL.com.