SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Thomas Brown, the New England Patriots’ passing game coordinator and tight ends coach, is also a football historian.
Brown, who played at Georgia and was drafted by the Falcons, wants to be a head coach in the NFL.
It was not lost on Brown, as he was preparing the Patriots to play in the Super Bowl LX, that Art Shell became the first Black head coach of the modern era for the Los Angeles Raiders back in 1989.
“A lot from a foundational standpoint about as the start of having a chance to kind of be a pioneer in this league,” Brown said of Shell. “I think if you go through just the history, in general, I might be off on the number, but there (were) 26 or 27, something names throughout the NFL history. I mean, there’s a few repeats of guys who had a chance to have multiple chances of being head coach.”
Tony Dungy (Bucs and Colts), Raheem Morris (Bucs and Falcons), Romeo Crennel (Browns and Chiefs) and Jim Caldwell (Colts and Lions) had two chances.
The NFL went through a recent hiring cycle of 10 openings, and none went to a Black candidate. There was one minority coach — Robert Saleh — hired.
Former NFL assistant coach Terry Robiskie had a front-row seat to Shell’s hiring. He was a candidate for the job that eventually went to Shell. He was the Raiders’ offensive coordinator under Shell.
Raiders owner Al Davis hired Shell to replace Mike Shanahan. He became the first Black head coach in the modern era of the NFL and the first since Fritz Pollard in 1925.
“So, what happened is, Art Shell is one of the greatest Raiders to ever play,” Robiskie said. “Art Shell was unbelievable. And Al Davis loved Art Shell, right? Now, Davis loved Art Shell and Gene Upshaw so much because not only were they great players, they were phenomenal leaders on the club, on the field and in the locker room.”
Upshaw would go on to lead the NFLPA (the players union). Davis also helped Shell and Upshaw on a shopping mall deal in the Oakland area.
When Shell retired from playing in the NFL, he wanted to get into coaching and possibly one day become a head coach.
“So, when that happened and he retired, Tom Flores was the head coach and a guy named Sam Boghosian was offensive line coach and Art Shell was his assistant,” Robiskie said. “They did not get along.”
Shell tried his hand at scouting.
“Art Shell went on the road for about two weeks, and he said, ‘No, this ain’t for me,’” Robiskie said. “‘I can’t do this. I want to be a coach. I don’t want to be a scout. I want to be a coach.’”
Shell wanted to be at home with his kids, two boys.
So, Davis instructed Flores to find a spot for Shell.
“We were working in El Segundo, California,” Robiskie said. “I had a little bitty office. It was like a broom closet. We took over when the Raiders moved to an elementary school on 332 Center Street.”
Robiskie said he rewired the small office with phone lines and electricity for him and Shell. They had just enough space to work back-to-back watching film.
“I climbed up in the attic, and I ran some electric wires myself, personally to plug our little projector so we can sit there watch film,” Robiskie said. “I ran a telephone cable so we could have telephone calls coming in. I’ve got my back to him. He’s got his back to mine. I’m looking at his sideline of the practice field.”
Shanahan was hired in 1988. He brought in Alex Gibbs, who practiced a different blocking scheme than Shell’s.
“We go through that thing the whole year,” Robiskie said. “Alex Gibbs wanted to coach his way. Art Shell wanted to coach his way, so they begin having problems. At the end of the year, things got ugly.”
Shanahan fired Shell and the running backs coach. When Davis found out, he was livid.
“Al Davis says, the coach can’t fire you,” Robiskie said. “You don’t work for him. You work for me.”
Shell went back to work.
Later, the Raiders were having a poor practice. Davis would watch from the end of the field. Shanahan was infuriated and ordered the team to run wind sprints.
“All the players took off running,” Robiskie said.
Davis was ticked and stopped the running and sent the whole team home. Shanahan showered and went home.
“Al Davis sat on a little bench out there, right up against the weight room,” Robiskie said. “It was a little bench. I went over there and sat next to him. He said, ‘OK, Terry, that’s it. I can’t take it (any) more. I can’t put up with it no more. It’s time for me to find a new head coach.”
Davis left the practice field. “He (came) to my office and said, Terry, come on up,” Robiskie said. “Meet me in my office in 20 minutes.”
Davis and Robiskie discussed the head coach position. Davis had been with Shell for more than 20 years and was loyal to him. They agreed on Shell, with Robiskie as the offensive coordinator.
“‘We’re going to do it,’ (Davis) said,” Robiskie remembered. “He said, ‘Do you think me, you and Art Shell can get it done?’ I said, I believe me, you and Art Shell can get it done.”
After a 1-3 start, Shell was named head coach of the Raiders, on Oct. 3, 1989. Shell guided the Raiders to a 7-5 record the rest of the way and went on to lead the team to three playoff appearances before he was fired following the 1994 season. (He also later returned for a one-season stint in 2006.)
The significance of Shell’s hiring as a Black man wasn’t lost on him.
“That was big,” Shell told The Athletic in 2021. “It was good for everybody that it happened, but it doesn’t surprise me. Al Davis was that kind of guy. He cared about his players more than anything else besides his family.”
Currently, three Black coaches are set heading into the 2026 new league business year in March.
Much has been made about the offensive positions of coordinator and quarterbacks coach as being the pipeline for NFL head coaches.
“There’s no way to say what the right spot is,” Brown said. “Because there’s always a different qualifications and expectations every single year with every different job. That does move and change from time to time.”
Brown is hoping to get any opportunity like Shell did.
“I would say, honestly, it’s extremely frustrating,” Brown said. “But also, I’m not surprised. But to say I’m surprised would mean that I just ignored history. Just ignore what just happened. I would have to ignore the patterns.”
Brown is hoping to help the Patriots win the Super Bowl. It would be his second Super Bowl ring. He was the assistant head coach for tight ends on the Rams team that won Super Bowl LVI.
“I think just, you know, although there’s so much you can control and you’re trying to obviously focus on trying to be as prepared as possible, present yourself as much as possible,” Brown said. “But some of the same issues that present themselves with the hiring process in this league, a little different than the rest of the world. So, I mean, it’s just a microcosm of that.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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