African-American Head Coaches Trivia Quiz

Answer: Perry Fewell

After a Week 10 loss to the Tennessee Titans, Head Coach Dick Jauron was given his pink slip and Defensive Coordinator, Perry Fewell, was allowed to step into the position. Fewell, led the team to a 3-4 record in their final seven games and was released after that season ended.

He then became the Defensive Coordinator for the New York Giants helping the team to a Super Bowl XLVII win over the New England Patriots.

Answer: Washington Redskins & Cleveland Browns

A former running back for the Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins, Terry Robiskie, began his coaching career in 1989 with the Los Angeles Raiders as an Offensive Coordinator.

In 2000, Robiskie got his first crack at the head coaching position after Norv turner was let go with three games left in the season. Robiskie led the team to a 1-2 finish, beating the Arizona Cardinals, 20-3, in the final game.

In 2004, Robiskie found himself again in the top spot when he took over for Butch Davis when he was fired from the Cleveland Browns with six games to play. Interestingly, just as he had done in his previous stint in Washigton, Robiskie won his final regular season game with the Browns as he led them to a 22-14 victory over the Houston Texans.

Answer: Washington Redskins

After guiding the Washington Redskins defense to a number five ranking during the 2002 season, Marvin Lewis was hired away from his Assistant Coach/ Defensive Coordinator position to become the head man with the Bengals, in 2003. He led the team to its first division title since 1990, in 2005, as well as subsequent playoff appearances in 2009, 2011, and 2012.

Answer: Mel Tucker

Replacing long-time head coach Jack Del Rio after he was fired in November, 2011, Mel Tucker went 2-3 in the final five games with the club. A Defensive Coodinator who began his coaching career on Nick Saban's 1997 Michigan State staff as a graduate assistant, Tucker broke into the NFL in 2005 coaching defensive backs under Romeo Crennel and from there, it was onward to Jacksonville where he stayed until the end of the 2012 season.

Answer: 4 appearances & 2 wins

A former defensive back who attended the University of California and San Diego State, Herman Edwards entered the National Football League as a free agent in 1977 with the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he played his entire career. He is probably best-known for his part in the famous "Miracle at the Meadowlands" play where he scooped up a fumble from opposing New York Giants QB Joe Pisarcik and returned it for the winning touchdown to give the Eagles an improbable 19-17 victory.

After his playing days, Edwards would go on to coach both the New York Jets (2001-2005) and the Kansas City Chiefs (2006-2008), taking both teams to the Playoffs a combined four times; three with the Jets (2-3) and once with the Chiefs (0-1). While he did not end his coaching career with an above .500 record (54-74, Regular Season; 2-4, Playoffs; Total, 56-78), "Herm" gave us many famous quotes and "Herman-isms" not the least of which was his "you play to win the game" rant after a loss to the Cleveland Browns, in 2002.

Answer: Denver Broncos

When the 2010 NFL season began, the Denver Broncos had yet to hire an African American head coach; however, that all changed in Week 14 of that season when Eric Studesville took over the reins from Josh McDaniels after the Broncos suffered a 10-6 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs left the team at 3-9. Studesville was elevated from Running Backs coach to the head man and led the team to a 1-3 finish, edging the Houston Texans, 24-23, for his lone win.

Answer: Lovie Smith

While many people know that Tony Dungy was the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, it was actually Lovie Smith who gave the Super Bowl its first African American head coach in its long history after leading his Chicago Bears to a 39-14 victory over the New Orleans Saints at the end of the 2006 season.

Smith had the good fortune to have had his game scheduled to be played first on that Sunday afternoon on January 21, 2007, thereby making him the first African American head coach in Super Bowl history; unfortunately, he lost to Dungy and his Indianapolis Colts, 29-17. Smith would lead the Bears to the Playoffs on three other occasions, but would not return to the Super Bowl with them. He would continue to coach the Bears until the end of the 2012 season.

Answer: Todd Bowles

A former Defensive Back from Temple University, Todd Bowles was the Dolphins' Asst. Head Coach of the Secondary when he got the opprtunity to become the teams first African American Head Coach after Tony Sparano was fired with three games remaining in the 2011 NFL season.

Bowles led the team to two wins in his brief stint and gained the support from many of the players to be given the head position, but it was not to be. After interviewing and not getting the job with Miami, Bowles left to become the interim Defensive Coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012 before moving on to take the DC position with the Arizona Cardinals in 2013.

Answer: Art Shell

Former Oakland Raider left tackle and 1989 Hall of Fame Inductee, Art Shell, is widely recognized as being the first African American in the modern era to have been given an opportunity to be a head coach in the National Football League when he was hired by Al Davis to run the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989.

Athough his Won/Loss record was only 56-52 (.519), Shell was able to get the team into the Playoffs three times in 1990, 1991, and 1993, getting to the conference final after the 1990 season where the Raiders lost to the Buffalo Bills, 51-3. No other coach listed has a winning pervcentage higher than .468.

Shell was fired after the 1994 season, but was brought back in 2006 to replace Norv Turner. Unfortunately, that '06 season was ore to forget as the team limped to 2-14 finish.

Answer: 1921 & 13 games

Born Frederick Douglass Pollard in Chicago, Illinois in 1894, "Fritz", as he became known, joined the Akron Pros as a halfback from Brown University, in 1919. The league was then known as the American Professional Football Association, but would later become known as the National Football League.

From his first entry into the league, Pollard would be a trailblazer throughout his playing and coaching career. He was one of only two African Americans in the league at the time when he helped the Pros win the first ever league championship, in 1920, with an 8-0-3 record. Then, in 1921, Pollard made history again by becoming the NFL's first African American head coach, when he was named co-coach alongside Elgie Tobin.

Pollard played for four different teams during his career and even experienced another head coaching opportunity when he was named the head man with the Hammond Pros in 1925, although that was for just a single game; unfortunately, the team lost. All totaled, Pollard's coaching career lasted only 13 games (8-4-1). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in 2005. It is very curious as to why he had to wait so long for such an honor.