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| Thursday, February 8 ESPN.com news services | |||
| A driving force behind one of the greatest defenses in NFL history will not be a head coach in the league next season.
While Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis was hindered by the league's policy of not letting assistant coaches interview before their season is finished, Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy told Sports Illustrated the snub might have occurred because Lewis is black.
Nine teams had openings, but Lewis only got one interview -- with the Buffalo Bills.
"It's just difficult to imagine," Dungy said. "I don't think anyone would have suggested
10 days ago that Marvin Lewis wouldn't have a head coaching job after all of
this sorted out. It wasn't even fathomable. But in fact it has happened and
only one team really talked to him. And that's a shame on our part, on the
whole league.
"You would have thought more than one team out of nine would say that here's
a guy that should be at least talked to. And you can only beg the question
in your own mind: If he were white, would it have been one out of nine? I
don't think so. I think it would have been more than one out of nine. I
would suggest more than one team would have talked to him with the
credentials he has and what he's done the last two years.
"It's difficult to take from my perspective as a minority coach in the NFL.
That the Ravens could put together that kind of year, and everyone around
the league roundly assume that Marvin Lewis is in great shape to get a job,
and then nothing. And that only one team talked to him, that's just hard to
swallow.
"I told Marvin sometimes the job you don't get ends up being a blessing.
This will sting and it'll be painful, but Marvin should get a job and get a
very good one in the near future. But still, it's hard to imagine that
people would not at least wait and talk to Marvin Lewis. And it's hard for
me to imagine why they wouldn't. And they didn't wait and talk to John Fox,
either."
NFL rules prohibit teams from talking to assistants until the assistants'
season is over, so only the Browns and Bills had vacancies after the Super
Bowl, and the Browns filled theirs with Butch Davis without interviewing
Lewis. The Bills hired Tennessee defensive coordinator Gregg Williams after
interview Lewis.
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ESPN.com's John Clayton talks about Marvin Lewis only getting one interview.