The New England Patriots have hired a Black man to be their head coach for the first time in franchise history this week. Former Assistant Coach and player (linebacker) Jerod Mayo was introduced to the media yesterday by owner Robert Kraft as the HNIC for the team that represents the red, white, and blue faithful in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
Source: Maddie Meyer / Getty
For those who aren’t into sports, whenever a Black head coach is hired to helm a team in any sport that has never had the privilege of being led by an African-American man, almost invariably some reporter will ask about how race factors into their job. It rarely fails. While that question should be a layup for any melanated person sitting in that chair, unfortunately, many a head coach has fumbled the opportunity to speak truth to power on that big national stage.
Source: Maddie Meyer / Getty
That fear, inability, or refusal to speak up is how we end up with guys like Hubert Davis being hired as the first Black man to ever be the head coach of the University of North Carolina’s men’s basketball team and ranting about how proud he is of his white wife. Sufficed to say, the hiring of a first Black coach has largely been equal parts joyous and embarrassing.
It’s really that simple. Not hard at all. It’s wild to watch Black coach after Black coach have such an inexplicably hard time just making it plain as John Lewis would say. Of course, this type of lucid communication is the bane of white folks’ existence.
That said, Jerod Mayo’s response to the race question was a Black a** breath of fresh air. According to The Providence Journal, Mayo takes great pride in being the Patriots’ first Black head coach and he’s not going to run from that fact while so many of his brothas are being either denied opportunities or are being completely overlooked as a potential HC.
“You better believe that being the first Black coach here in New England means a lot to me,” Mayo, who was drafted 10th overall in 2008 out of Tennessee, said inside Gillette Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
At 37 years old, Mayo becomes the youngest head coach in the entire NFL and all eyes will be on him as he attempts to blaze his own trail in the wake of the historic success of former head coach Bill Belichick. Let’s keep a buck, the folks in Massachusetts don’t have a good rep when it comes to racism so we’d be fools not to expect some of them to act liek donkeys of the day when inevitable turbulence occurs during the 2024-2025 season. Hopefully, there will be some newer, darker Patriots fans at the games to g-check the soup cookies when their saltiness turns into slurs.