The Cardinals' first season in the NFL was 1920 and their head coach was Paddy Driscoll. He was head coach from 1920-1922.
Fritz Pollard.
Fritz Pollard.
In the modern era, yes.Fritz Pollard was a player/coach of the 1921 Akron Pros and would be considered the first African American head coach in NFL history.
The first head coach of the Arizona Cardinals professionally was Paddy Driscoll.
Fritz Pollard was the first African American quarterback in the NFL. He was also the first African American coach in the NFL.
Art Shell
The first head coach in the was Art Shell, but the first coach was Fritz Pollard.
An NFL coach can't be an NFL player and a Coach.
There are several possible answers: College: There were black coaches as soon as the historically black colleges and universities started playing football. Clarence Matthews was the coach of Tuskegee University in 1893, he may have been the first. NFL: In the early days of the NFL, the job of coach was usually filled by a player on the team. And there were a handful of black NFL players between 1919 and 1933. Hall of Famer Fritz Pollard was a co-coach on the 1919 Akron Pros, and then coached the 1925 Hammond Pros. FBS College: The first black coach of a Division I-A school (now called FBS) was Willie Jeffries, who was named the head coach at Wichita State in 1979. Wichita State eliminated their football team in 1986. NFL Modern: The first modern black NFL coach was Art Shell, who was promoted to head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders on October 4, 1989.
That was Elgie Tobin who led the 1920 Akron Pros to the first NFL championship.
tom landry