Commanders announce creation of Doug Williams Diversity Coaching Fellowship

The Washington Commanders haven’t done much winning over the last two decades, but they’re on-field struggles have almost been overshadowed by their propensity to cause controversy off the field.

Of course, most of Washington’s non-football conflicts can be attributed to owner Dan Snyder, who’s currently facing two separate investigations; one relating to sexual harassment allegations and one relating to withholding ticket revenue.

While the franchise will always be scorned as long as Snyder is in office, the hope is the Commanders rebrand will provoke change and flip the narrative that Washington is a laughingstock that can’t get out of its own way.

Obviously, it’s one thing to promise change and another to actually enact it. Well, Washington took a huge step in enacting change on Wednesday by announcing the creation of the Doug Williams Diversity Coaching Fellowship.

The Commanders announced the creation of the Doug Williams Diversity Coaching Fellowship on Wednesday.

The fellowship was created amid the NFL’s continued efforts to diversify coaching hires and gives opportunities to coaches from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to “advance their careers while learning and growing with an NFL coaching staff,” the Commanders said as part of the release.

As a HBCU alum who starred at Grambling State and became a first-round pick of the Buccaneers in the 1987 draft, it’s only fitting the fellowship was named after Williams. While serving as the team’s first Black quarterback, Williams won Super Bowl XXII with Washington and took home MVP honors in the game.

The coach selected as the Doug Williams Fellow will serve as an offensive assistant who works with head coach Ron Rivera, offensive coordinator Scott Turner and quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese to dissect film and coach the scout team.

Rivera released the following statement about the program.

"“I have always said that fostering opportunities for young coaches of color is what we need to do in order to correct the issues we have been seeing with the hiring cycles in the league. We are excited to announce the Doug Williams Diversity Coaching Fellowship which will help us continue to grow as an organization and help foster young coaching talent to set them up for success in their careers.There is no better man to honor with the naming of this fellowship than the great Doug Williams who is a trailblazer in the NFL and has represented this organization with class for many years.”"

Per usual, Rivera hit the nail right on the head while discussing the NFL’s questionable (at best) hiring cycle. The Rooney Rule has become more of a loophole than a system that has produced a more diversified coaching/front office landscape, as there are currently just five minority head coaches and GMs in the NFL.

As a pioneer for Black quarterbacks in the NFL, Williams is the perfect candidate to lead this campaign. Not only does he hail from a HBCU, but he was the first Black quarterback drafted in the first round by an NFL team and was the first Black quarterback to play in and win a Super Bowl.

What a fantastic gesture by the Commanders.