“Just focus on coaching!” – Jerod Mayo gets brutally slammed for his seemingly racist take after becoming Patriots’ first black head coach

Mayo is the first black head coach in the Patriots history.

“Just focus on coaching!” – Jerod Mayo gets brutally slammed for his seemingly racist take after becoming Patriots’ first black head coach

Jared Mayo being introduced as first black Patriots head coach on Wednesday at FOXBOROUGH (Screengrab YouTube)

The post-Bill Belichick era at the New England Patriots officially kicked off on Wednesday when owner Robert Kraft introduced Jared Mayo as the new head coach to the media. Mayo not only replaced arguably the best coach in NFL history but also became the first black coach to take over the reins at Foxborough.

During the press conference, a reporter asked Mayo what it meant to be the first head coach of color for the Patriots.

I do see color, because I believe if you don’t see color, you can’t see racism. Whatever it is, black, white, or yellow, it really doesn’t matter, but it does matter, so we can try to fix the problem.
Mayo replied

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Jared Mayo faced backlash on social media for his comments

The New England Patriots are one of the few franchises that prefer to think about the long term. They refrain from making repeated changes to their system, definitely not in the head coaching department. Only 13 individuals have coached the Patriots in their 64-year history. But the one aspect that they had in common was that they were all white until Mayo.

"Just focus on coaching!" - Jerod Mayo gets brutally slammed for his seemingly racist take after becoming Patriots' first black head coach
Jared Mayo (Image via CNN)

While Kraft garnered a lot of praise on social media for choosing to finally be inclusive, there were a few who were irked by the comments Mayo made during his press brief.

https://twitter.com/Hittaz99/status/1747680683076571313
https://twitter.com/wizardssociety/status/1747776003127325026

Mayo, 37, is also now the youngest head coach of an NFL franchise. Previously, Rams head coach Sean McVay held the title, along with being the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl.

Back to Mayo, who has a massive job of bringing the good times back to New England. He thanked Kraft for bringing diversity into the Patriots locker room and coaching staff.

I appreciate Kraft and the organization selecting me to be a black head coach. You want your locker room to be pretty diverse, and you want the world to look like that.
Mayo said.

He also gave the 82-year-old a nickname.

I call him Young Thundercat—he has a young heart

According to the Associated Press, out of 32 teams in the NFL, there are still 12 teams that have yet to hire a black head coach. The league committee has taken steps to increase minority hiring, updating the Rooney Rule.

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