Miami Dolphins lead NFL in category that should make South Florida proud
The NFL fills email inboxes with news releases every week and Tuesday was no different when the league trumpeted the latest figures from its laudable Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship program.
But tucked into that announcement was a line that should interest Miami Dolphins fans.
The Fellowship program, named after late Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Bill Walsh, provides NFL coaching experience to minority college coaches, high school coaches and former players. Walsh introduced the concept to the league in 1987 when he brought a group of minority coaches into his San Francisco 49ers’ training camp.
This year 179 coaches participated in the program, including 53 former NFL players.
And here’s the interest to Dolphins fans: Miami led the NFL with 15 coaching fellows.
“Our organization was excited to provide opportunities and access throughout all levels of our football operation through the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship,” Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier said in a statement. “Our Head Coach Brian Flores has long said there’s a great number of smart, talented leaders across the league and he is all in for whatever he can do to help others gain exposure at this level.
“I have seen firsthand how this fellowship can changes lives and we appreciate the full support and the commitment from Stephen Ross every step of the way.”
Ross, the Dolphins owner, deserves recognition for this. Because too often the loud dissenting voices -- one departed from the Dolphins locker room itself -- have failed to recognize what Ross has actually done with the structure of the Dolphins since he took over the franchise in 2009.
Consider:
In 2016, Ross hired a black general manager in Grier.
In December 2018, Ross promoted Grier to being the club’s top authority over all things football.
In February 2019, Ross hired a black Hispanic head coach in Flores..
And the Dolphins have a black senior vice president of communications and community affairs, a black senior vice president for special projects and alumni relations, a black senior vice president and general counsel, a black assistant head coach, a black defensive coordinator, a black assistant general manager, a black senior personnel executive, an Asian player personnel coordinator, two black ownership partners, one Hispanic ownership partner, and a female ownership partner who is among the more than half dozen women that grace the top of Dolphins’ organizational flow chart.
This stuff doesn’t just occur by coincidence.
The Dolphins are the only NFL team with an African-American GM and head coach but they are merely the head of a leadership spear that is immersed in diversity.
For this team, it’s not just about having black players and position coaches.
And it hasn’t been merely about bringing people of color, women, and ethnic minorities into the organization. The organization has gone out into those communities.
Look, this isn’t Dolphins public relations spin. This is fact:
The Dolphins’ stadium is located in a minority city of Miami Gardens and is the economic heartbeat of that city. The Dolphins are the biggest taxpayer in Miami Gardens and hire scores of local residents to work at the stadium.
Those employees worked on Ross’s $700 million renovation programs. Work at Hard Rock Stadium during Dolphins games. Work at Hard Rock Stadium during Miami Hurricane games. Work the Miami Open tennis tournament there. And work the multiple other big events at the facility such as the coming Super Bowl and College Football Championship games.
And the opportunities will continue to multiply as the team moves by 2021 from its current Davie, FL. training facility to a Miami Gardens training facility -- a facility that must be constructed (jobs) and operated (jobs) within Miami Gardens.
The Dolphins have given $1 million to City Year Miami to fund programs at Norland and Carol City High, which border Miami Gardens, and have held events with the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project designed to ease tensions between law enforcement and youth.
The truth is most every NFL team does community outreach to multiple minority communities. The Dolphins are actually woven into the fabric of minority communities.
Interestingly, this work doesn’t often get great attention. I have never really recognized the hiring of Flores or Grier as minority hires because, to me, they were simply hires of capable people, color notwithstanding.
And, by the way, the Miami Dolphins are a professional football team. So I want to typically tell you about the football which is not a game about black and white but is uniquely red, white and blue.
That view aside, I tell you one of the most impressive things I’ve ever heard Ross say since he became the club’s owner is that he is not actually the Dolphins owner. He views himself as the steward of the club on behalf of the South Florida community to which he believes the club truly belongs.
This is appropriate because South Florida is a diverse place.
And the Dolphins’ steward has positioned his club perfectly within that diversity.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 1:16 PM.
