Duce Staley still pines to be an NFL head coach: ‘I know I’m ready’

MOBILE, Ala. – Duce Staley was smack dab in the middle, whistle in mouth, as Florida’s Dameon Pierce and Appalachian State’s D’Marco Jackson stormed toward each other like battering rams.

Staley is the de facto head coach of the American team at the Senior Bowl, and the Detroit Lions and former Eagles assistant was given carte blanche to schedule practices as he saw fit. And one of his wrinkles, which the players and personnel from other teams seemed to enjoy, were one-on-one drills in front of the entire team.

The drills were held immediately after warmups and at the conclusion of 2½-hour workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. It seemed only fitting that Staley’s final matchup pitted a running back against a linebacker in blitz pickup, and that Pierce stoned Jackson.

Staley once mastered the art as a player and has subsequently taught the skill as a long-time position coach. But the 46-year-old, who left the Eagles last offseason after he wasn’t promoted to head coach, has filled that role for the Lions here and it has reinforced for him that he is ready to lead an NFL team.

“Without a doubt, I know I’m ready,” Staley told The Inquirer on Wednesday. “The thing is, it’s all about opportunity. If I get one, great, but if not, I’m still going to live vicariously through these running backs and these players I coach. That’s that lantern inside of me. That’s forever burning.

“And until that lantern goes out, that’s what you’re going to get — the fire and juice that I bring every day.”

Staley hasn’t been among the candidates who have interviewed for the nine openings this offseason. Four of the jobs have thus far been filled, but the other five should be nearing a conclusion, if not this week, after the Super Bowl is played Feb. 13.

But a spanner was tossed into the proceedings Tuesday when former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, an African American, filed a lawsuit against the league and three teams alleging discrimination in hiring practices. He claimed his interview with the Giants was “a sham” to satisfy the Rooney Rule, which states that at least two minority candidates be interviewed for NFL head-coaching jobs.

Brain Daboll, who is white, was eventually hired by the Giants. But Flores cited a Bill Belichick text message before he had interviewed, in which Belichick mistakenly congratulated him on the job, thinking he was Daboll, as proof that the Giants had already made their decision.

On Tuesday, Staley declined the comment on the lawsuit because he said he had yet to read it. Twenty-four hours later, he said he had been too busy to really dig into Flores’ accusations. But he said he didn’t feel that his two interviews with the Eagles in 2016 and 2021 were cursory gestures.

“It’s a tough situation, a tough situation for everybody,” Staley said of the Flores lawsuit. “I was asked the question if I felt that happened to me, and 100%, no, it did not. I value that interview, and knowing what I know now, if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it all over again.

“Every opportunity, if I get that chance, I’ll take it.”

Six years ago, Staley was the first candidate to interview with the Eagles after owner Jeffrey Lurie fired Chip Kelly. The team met with about a half-dozen other coaches, none of them a minority, before hiring Doug Pederson.

In 2013 then-Falcons special teams coach Keith Armstrong was one of the Eagles’ first interviews, and they also interviewed former Bears head coach Lovie Smith before they settled on Kelly. Lurie’s first head coach hire in 1995, it should be noted, was Ray Rhodes, who is Black.

The Eagles cast a larger net last year after Pederson was let go and interviewed almost a dozen candidates. Staley, Todd Bowles, Jerod Mayo, and Robert Saleh fulfilled the Rooney Rule obligation. While Lurie made special mention of Staley when he introduced Nick Sirianni as the next coach, the longtime Eagles employee was granted his leave.

Newly hired Lions coach Dan Campbell promptly acquired Staley and gave him the same job — running backs coach and assistant head coach — he had with the Eagles.

“I just wanted to grow,” Staley said. “I wanted to get out and get under Dan and learn some of the things he learned from the Saints. … So when the opportunity comes, I’ll be ready.”

Pederson had given Staley various responsibilities as assistant head coach, and when he contracted COVID-19 in August 2020, Staley took over in his absence. But Campbell has added more to his plate in terms of leadership, like addressing the team before games, and tabbed Staley to take his place in the Senior Bowl.

“Duce — he’s all go, man,” Campbell said. “He was excited about this. He accepted the challenge. Look, I told him from Day 1, ‘This is yours.’ I said, ‘If you need anything, let me know. But you handle it.’ He scheduled everything. He did the logistics as it pertains to what we’re doing on the field.”

Staley headed one of the teams in the East-West Shrine Bowl five years ago, but his practices at the Senior Bowl were mostly modeled after the Lions. Campbell said he often has individual competitions, but the team-wide one-on-ones were Staley’s doing.

“You got one-on-ones with your position groups. You got one-on-ones on special teams,” Staley said. “But there’s something about bringing everybody up and going one-on-one with like a bull in the ring, and you got something on the line, whether it’s pushups or situps or gassers, or even pride.

“You’re on that main stage and everybody’s watching.”

Staley has long proved his bona fides in developing running backs. Few have ever questioned his leadership abilities. He’s got the connecting-with-players trait down cold, but isn’t a walk-over. He said his message to prospects this week, in regard to learning the playbook, was treating it like their smartphone.

“Every five minutes, look at it,” Staley said. “They do it anyway!”

Staley hasn’t been the primary play-caller in the NFL, although he did it before in the Shrine Bowl and in practices. Still, he has yet to be hired as a coordinator and the Eagles are still the only team to interview him for head coach.

Are there legitimate reasons, or like many African Americans coaches, is he being overlooked because of apparent built-in prejudices of mostly white male ownership? Currently, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin is the only Black head coach and all four of the hires thus far this offseason have been white men.

“I think my opportunities will come,” Staley said. “They’ll come. It’s all about timing.”

» READ MORE: ‘Football genius’ Duce Staley could’ve been the Eagles’ coach instead of ‘Flower Child’ Nick Sirianni

Staley said he doesn’t regret leaving the Eagles. He spent 10 years there as an assistant and seven as a running back. He did say that it felt awkward watching his former team from afar.

“You got to give credit to Nick, [offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland] and the defense for what they did,” Staley said, “because they turned that thing around, starting with us when they came up and kicked our ass.”

The then-2-5 Eagles trounced the Lions in Detroit, 44-6, on Oct. 31. Lurie, general manager Howie Roseman and many other Eagles staffers embraced Staley before and after the game. He said there were no hard feelings, even if many fans felt he had been slighted.

“It was awesome to feel that support,” Staley said. “But at the end of the day, as an owner and GM, you have to put someone in position that you’re comfortable with. I’m not saying they weren’t comfortable with me, but at the same time, Nick was their guy.”

Staley thinks he has the makings to be some team’s guy. Campbell agreed.

“I think he’ll be a head coach in this league, and I think he’ll be a damn good one,” Campbell said. “Because he’s a leader.”