Who was the first black head coach in the NFL?
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.