BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Depending on who you are, Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL was either a rude shock or a lingering reminder. For fans of color, Flores’ claim reinforces that racial bias still exists when it comes to hiring diverse head coaches.
But while all of this is happening at the professional level…what does it say about coaching youth sports here at home? And why does that matter?
To answer this question in part – let’s provide some context.
According to the Connecticut Department of Education, 10% of public-school faculty and staff are of color. That’s in stark contrast to a student population where 51% of those students are of color. The Central Connecticut Conference is the biggest public school league with 32 schools, and only six of the head coaches are people of color. Doing the math? That’s a rate of 18%.
But this isn’t a singular conference issue.
Eddie Santiago was the head varsity coach at Harding High School in Bridgeport until last month when he was surprisingly let go. In his time on the sidelines, he struggled to find peers of color that ran programs.
“There's not many of us there, there's probably like, I would say 22 minority coaches, probably in the whole state," Santiago said. "And there's a ton way more schools then than that in Connecticut.”
Santiago was first given the opportunity to take over Harding’s program full-time in 2014 after coaching on an interim basis the season before. One of his first orders of business was hiring a diverse group of coaches.
“Before when we were at Harding, you know, we didn't have much success," he said. "We were able to put a staff together that was very diverse and was able to relate to the kids. And the program kind of turned around.”
The Harding Presidents went on to reach two state playoffs and even sent players off to college during Santiago's eight seasons of leadership. Santiago’s connection to the program is personal as a former Harding player himself – and the influence that received when he was at Harding.
“When I came back, I wanted to give kids an opportunity to have the same experience that I had as a Harding football player," said Santiago. "And my head coach was Damon Lewis, which is which was on the son of John Lewis, the great John Lewis at Harding, and they were pillars in our community.”
But no two programs are alike – and no two roads are the same.
Take for example Adam Banks, who has taken over the football program at Loomis Chaffee, the Class A New England prep school reigning champions.
“This is kind of where I've always been, you know, been comfortable grew up on a football field, had two older brothers that played football through, you know, through peewee, my dad was a peewee coach. So this is like kind of my happy place,” he said.
Banks played football at Georgetown before starting on the road to coaching that included a successful stint as an assistant coach for Amherst College.
“My first five years at Amherst where we won four times, one of them was shared for it, so we didn't get a ring, we got a watch because we went undefeated,” Banks said.
And at each stop, he noticed that he could count the number of coaches of color that he worked with on one hand.
“When I started my first job, my first job was at a school like this, I was one of two and then had the opportunity to go back to my alma mater and I was one of three and it's typically been around you know, two to three as I've as I've been kind of my various stops,” said Banks.
In talking about the Flores case, Banks gave ample credit to the white colleagues that supported and encouraged him on his journey, he also said getting to each point meant dealing with unfamiliar territory.
“These are networked positions and generally speaking, people are going to go with who they feel comfortable with, and just kind of human nature, as people feel comfortable with people who are either look like them or shares, you know, similar experiences and things like that,” said Banks.
Dr. Donna Lopiano, who teaches sports management at Southern Connecticut State University and is the president and founder of Sports Management Resources, called it "homologous reproduction."
"You have a tendency to hire people who look like you and to keep them in power," she said.
Lopiano was a senior athletics administrator at the University of Texas, so she’s familiar with the hiring process for important positions. And she has a solution to make a lasting systemic change – she suggests appointing a search committee mostly made of people of color to ensure that the pool of applicants is diverse.
“You're not talking about one. If your finalist pool is four or five or six, half of that has to be your minority population," Lopiano said. "That's the only way we're going to change the system is to have enough people in the pool who every one of which are qualified so that nobody has an excuse for not selecting them.”
But why does this matter in the long run? For Harry Bell, who's been involved with Bridgeport youth for over a decade, it’s just another reminder that representation matters.
“When you have leadership that looks like you, you're more acceptable to it. But it's a mind thing," said Bell. "You believe that that can be you because he looks like you and comes from where you come from. So that just makes it a little more realistic.”
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There are important takeaways here: Firstly, you don’t have to be Black, brown, or from any specific ethnicity to be a guiding mentor for young players.
Last February, the Platt football program honored the accomplishments of their former Black former players and managers on Twitter. Their head coach? Jason Bruenn, who is White.
But it’s important that student-athletes of color see themselves in their mentors. And providing that representation gives them the best chance to succeed on and off the field.
Nkwa Asonye is a sports reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at nasonye@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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