Who was the first black head coach in the NFL?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

In the NFL that was Fritz Pollard with the Akron Pros in 1921. Art Shell was the first modern day African American NFL head coach with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989.

The first African American head coach at a predominently white college or University was Matthew Washington Bullock who became head coach at Massachusetts in 1904.

Answer 3

Art Shell is not actually the first black head coach in the NFL. Fritz Pollard became the first head coach in NFL in 1922 when he recruited players for Brown Bombers. Art Shell is the first modern-day NFL head coach, but not technically the first ever.

Answer 4

The first African-American head coach in the National Football league was Frederick Douglass 'Fritz' Pollard. He was the coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Answer 5

Bill Russell was the first black NBA coach.

Answer 6

Fritz Pollard

Answer 7

Tony Dungy