Mike Vrabel’s deputizing his defensive line coach, Terrell Williams, as head coach for the preseason opener Friday isn’t going to change the startling inequality in the coaching business when it comes to opportunities for coaches of color, but it’s not insignificant, either.
Vrabel didn’t seem like someone who wanted to turn this into a Made By Goodell moment to garner attention (which is why, I suspect, he didn’t respond to a request to talk about it further). But the gesture is worth more than just a few lines at a press conference.
Williams will deal with the training staff, craft a message to the team and be the actual nerve center of the organization for a little more than 48 hours. But most importantly, he’ll be able to get in front of a camera. He’ll get talked about on a broadcast. During the dead air space that often fills the ungodly final minutes of a preseason game, announcers can tick off his résumé, which is impressive. Williams started coaching at a community college in Fort Scott, Kans. He grinded through outposts at North Carolina A&T, Youngstown State and Akron. Wherever he went, he coached talented future NFL players, such as Kawann Short, Mike Neal, Cliff Avril and Ryan Kerrigan. Here’s hoping that the announcers treat his rise to this moment with the same reverence that [insert rising offensive coordinator A] gets on every rendition of Monday Night Football.
