After an offseason in which the league’s minority coaching pool shrank instead of expanded, the advocacy group for those coaches will have a new leader.
According to Hall of Famer Gil Brandt, Fritz Pollard Alliance chairman John Wooten is retiring.
Wooten and the Alliance annually offer suggestions of qualified minority candidates to the league, but this offseason, not many of their suggestions gained any traction at all. Only the Dolphins (Brian Flores) hired a minority candidate, among the eight jobs open.
The 82-year-old Wooten, who played nine years in the league with Cleveland and Washington, has worked in that capacity since 2003.
Brandt said that he would be replaced at the top of the group by Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson, who has worked with the group previously.