Marvin Lewis is the longest-tenured African-American head coach in the big four North American pro sports. Who better to explain the complexities and challenges of manning the sidelines?

By Donnovan Bennett

Since the NFL implemented the Rooney Rule in 2003, requiring team owners to interview minority candidates, the number of minority head coaches has increased from two to six—five of whom are African American. Some see the amount of black coaches manning the sidelines as progressive; others as a grave injustice. But no one has a better-informed position on the subject than Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.

With 13 years at the helm in Cincinnati, Lewis is the longest-tenured African-American head coach in North American sports—and in the NFL, only Bill Belichick has led a team longer. I ventured to Cincinnati in the final weeks of the regular season and caught Lewis in his office—taking a rare break from watching film—to chat about the complex struggles faced by black coaches.

Sportsnet You’re the longest-tenured African-American pro coach in North America. What does that distinction mean to you?

Marvin Lewis When I was first, as they call it, a “young coach,” I looked up to [guys like] Tony Dungy, Dennis Green, Sherman Lewis, Ray Rhodes, Jim Skipper—who is still coaching today—and Jim Anderson, who coached a long time here, and I wanted the opportunity to coach at that level. I’ve been very fortunate to be here as the head coach for this period of time, and to answer your question, when a coach comes to me and says, “I really appreciate and am thankful for what you’ve done. I’ve followed your career. And you’ve left this impression upon me,” to me that means a lot because those guys [I looked up to] blazed a trail for me. And hopefully I’m able to blaze a trail for others. That’s what Lovie [Smith], Jim Caldwell and I talk about. We want to have our own legacy—where the young people, the young African-American coaches, the sons of young African-American coaches, want to get into coaching. They aren’t turned off of it because they saw their father not get opportunities. We want them to go into coaching because they saw their father earn opportunities; because they see if you do things the right way, you work hard, you become very good at what you do, these doors are going to open. So hopefully we have our sons continue to want to do this more and more down the line.

SN There is a football fraternity. There is a coaches’ fraternity. Is there a special connection between you guys?

ML I think there is a connection between all coaches. I think there is a connection between minority coaches. Other than Jimmy, most of us have been defensive guys throughout time.

SN I wanted to bring that up with you, that the vast majority of minority head coaches are defensive guys. Do you ever wonder why that is?

ML This is my theory on coaching [laughs] and why I think it’s harder for more African-Americans to matriculate into those head spots in college coaching: In college football, you elevate yourself by winning and recruiting. So what happens if you’re having success recruiting and as a positional coach at one area school? You’re more likely to take a job at a bigger school doing the same thing rather than staying at the school and moving up to become a coordinator and, eventually, the head coach. Instead you go from Middle Tennessee State to Tennessee or Georgia or whatever to get to that large SEC program, still as a position coach. And so the majority of your coaches are secondary coaches or defensive back coaches. Those are the positions that they often have played and are familiar with, and they never really get to expand to roles beyond that.

SN Now that we are starting to see more African-American quarterbacks do you think we’ll start to see some trickle-down effect?

ML You hope. Donovan McNabb goes into the media. [Adrian] McPherson has played in Canada for how many years? Warren Moon—to the media. Guys that were successful African-American quarterbacks are smart enough to choose not to go into coaching [laughs], and I don’t know why that is. It is probably a great research topic: The successful black quarterback and what they’ve done since they left playing.

SN How much of that comes down to culture? Do you think there could be an Obama Effect, where young people see him in the Oval Office and say, “I want to lead. I want to use my mental faculties as well as my athletic ones?”

ML I hope so. But you see a guy like Kordell Stewart. I don’t know what Kordell is doing right now. Tony Banks, Jason Campbell, who was with us last year—I don’t know why they choose not to come into this.

SN The Rooney Rule. There are people on both sides of the ball who highlight its pros and cons. For you, is it more of a negative or a positive?

ML Well, Mike Tomlin, people said well that’s just a courtesy interview and he got the job. Obviously, he was deserving of it. If [the rule] opens up doors and gives somebody a chance they otherwise wouldn’t get, I think it’s a positive. And I think the other side of it is the preparation it takes to interview to become a head coach. Maybe you don’t get it this time, but the preparation it takes—next time you’re going to do it better.

SN When you look at the number of African-American coaches relative to the number of African-American players on the field, do you think there are enough?

ML I think it’s relative to the strength of the African-American coaches. I would point to that more than the fact that there are more players so there should be more coaches. There are qualified people like Perry Fewell. The Giants are in the Super Bowl and Perry Fewell is a hot item. Then all of a sudden, he’s not. Perry’s the same coach. He’s probably a better coach! [Laughs.] A few years ago, Tim Lewis was a head-coaching candidate, and then all of a sudden, he’s not. There are a lot of guys who have been coordinators in the league on successful teams that should be getting a chance to interview, but if their team momentarily goes down, they are forgotten. That coach is just as qualified, but the public perception changes and then ownership isn’t willing to walk in with that guy.

SN Why do you think that is?

ML There’s a wow factor that has to be there. When an organization changes a coach, they want a wow factor.

SN They want to win the press conference.

ML They want to win the press conference. They want to win their fans back is what they are doing. And the first way to win fans back is to bring in someone who is perceived to be a successful person.

SN How often do guys come to you for advice on how to win a job?

ML My advice is get the job until you don’t want the job. [Laughs.] That’s what I learned going through the process. If you decide to accept the interview, go win the job. Then if you really don’t want the job, tell them no. Don’t be lukewarm. Because if they feel you’re lukewarm, they are going to go in a different direction. I had some situations where people weren’t sure I really wanted it because I had some things I questioned. So I tell people, “Be committed, then if you need to say no.”

SN Sadly, for many of your black players, you are the first African-American male authority figure they’ve had in their life. Is that an added responsibility for you?

ML It is. It is important to know what makes them tick. I visited Bill Cowher a long time ago and there was a sign above his door that said, “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I think that’s so important. My job is to help that football player be the best player he can be. Within that, they have to know I have their best interests at heart; I’ve got their back. I want to see them flourish and I’ll do everything I can to help and push and prod them to be the best player they can be. And a lot of that ends up being managing their lives off the field; showing them how to do things. These guys have this persona of being these big, tough men. Some of them don’t know what they don’t know. So you create an environment for them to learn.

SN With a guy like “Pacman” Jones, whose reputation preceded him, does that approach allow you to reach him in a way some of your coaching counterparts weren’t able to?

ML It’s just a shame that this is a great kid that nobody knows, who had no training early on to be a man. But he’s a tremendous-hearted kid and smart as a whip. Part of it, to me, is when they’re in college. It’s the coach’s responsibility when they are in college to help them grow up to be men and fathers and husbands, and sometimes they don’t get that. With Adam, since 2010 there have been tough times. But he’s like a puppy; he keeps coming back. Sometimes he needs tough love, but you know he’ll die for you—I mean literally. And we want him to know we have the same feel for him. He’s had some ups and downs but generally it’s because he stands out, not because he looks for it. That’s one of the coolest things in life I’ve had the chance to do: Attend his wedding and see all the people in his life, and they all had a special bond because we all know him. They say it takes a village and we’re all part of that village. That village for African-Americans as a whole continues to grow constantly and get stronger.

Photos by Joe Robbins