On Monday, Jan. 9, 2023, the Carolina Panthers will relieve Wilks of his duties, as he’ll certainly be one of the coaches fired on Black Monday — the day after the last game of the regular season in which franchises annually clean house.

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This isn’t a bold prediction. Nor is it a shot at Wilks’ talents, as he was once unfairly fired after a single season as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018.

This is just how it works in the NFL. If you don’t believe me, ask David Culley — a Black coach who was also fired after just one year on the job. The Houston Texans chewed him up and spat him out in 2021. (There’s more to that story, but I’ll get to that later.)

As bad of a hand Wilks and Culley were dealt, there’s a group of coaches who have it even worse. When Black coaches get tagged with the interim label, it means they’re placeholders until management can’t find a permanent fix — someone who is white.

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Don’t believe me?

Look at this:

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Those are just the incidents that have occurred since 2010, as you can see why Black coaches aren’t exactly ecstatic when the interim label is burdened upon them. However, in 2011, Romeo Crennel was brought back after an interim stint when the Kansas City Chiefs hired him as head coach. The same was done for Leslie Frazier in 2010 with the Minnesota Vikings.

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For comparison’s sake, since 2010, there have been 14 times when a white coach served under the interim tag. That list includes Darrell Bevell (twice), Rich Bisaccia, Bill Callahan, Joe Philbin, Steve Spagnuolo, John Fassel, Dan Campbell, Pat Shurmur, Tony Sparano, Jim Tomsula, Doug Marrone, Mike Mularkey, and Jason Garrett. Of that group, Marrone, Mularkey, and Garrett were chosen to stay on as head coaches. However, in that same time frame, there was never a time in which a Black interim coach was replaced by another Black coach.

But here’s the kicker.

When the Carolina Panthers fired Ron Rivera in 2019, a Black coach by the name of Perry Fewell took over as the interim. That’s when the team decided to hire Matt Rhule — which has brought us to this full-circle moment in which Steve Wilks is the new interim coach. This stuff writes itself.