ShareThisMIAMI - The last time the Super Bowl came to South Florida, it was an historic happening.
For reasons far beyond football.
Never before had a black head coach taken his team to the NFL's championship game. But everything changed with Super Bowl XLI, which saw Tony Dungy's Indianapolis Colts defeat Lovie Smith's Chicago Bears.
The social significance of that pairing was among the most compelling stories of that Super Bowl.
That was three years ago.
Since then, another black coach has led his team to the big game -- just last year, in fact, Mike Tomlin guided the Pittsburgh Steelers to a Super Bowl victory.
So maybe that explains it.
Maybe that's why there was so little buzz about Jim Caldwell's skin color during Tuesday's Super Bowl Media Day at Sun Life Stadium.
Maybe that's why Caldwell fielded more questions about being a rookie head coach and getting to the Super Bowl than he did about being the fourth black head coach to get to the Super Bowl.
Or maybe it's as simple as this: We're making progress.
I wanted to be sure.
So I sought out America's most prominent black sports columnist, Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, and asked him.
"I haven't had one discussion about it, haven't talked about it, haven't written about it," said Wilbon, whom you might also know from ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption," which he co-hosts with Tony Kornheiser. "Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it. But that's a good point.
"It's probably less of an event because it happened so quickly after the first time, and because it happened again last year. And then there's the way he came in -- so quietly -- and that he already had been working with Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning. His hiring didn't get a lot of attention.
"It could be all those things, but you're right: Nobody's really talking about it."
Even Caldwell, 55, acknowledged his presence at the Super Bowl has not been as celebrated as his pioneering predecessors.
"It's not quite as big a story as it was a few years ago, and that's a good thing," said Caldwell, who inherited Dungy's team after last season and has steered the Colts to a 16-2 record in his first year as an NFL head coach. "Ultimately, we're all judged by one thing, anyway. And that's the ledger -- how many wins and how many losses.
"Nevertheless, I still believe that with Tony and Lovie Smith making it here, then Tony and Mike Tomlin winning it, it does demonstrate that not only can (black coaches) get you to this game, but they can win it as well."
Truth be told, the successes of Dungy, Smith, Tomlin and now Caldwell have done more to enhance the chances for black coaches in the NFL than the league's "Rooney Rule," which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for every head-coaching opening.
But Caldwell, a former head coach at Wake Forest and longtime college assistant whom Dungy brought to Tampa Bay in 2001, strongly embraces the concept and endorses the rule.
"To get interviewed, to get in position, to get in front of some of the owners to get that opportunity the rule is helping that," said Caldwell, who spent seven years on Dungy's staff in Indianapolis before succeeding him. "I don't think it's perfect, but it's certainly heading in the right direction. I think the face of the league looks a lot different in 2010 than it did in 2002. I think a lot of that has to do with the opportunity that is being presented. I think you're going to see it change even further.
"There are some sharp guys out there that are certainly capable and deserving of an opportunity."
Some of them might become another Dungy or Tomlin. Some of them might take their teams to the Super Bowl. Some of their teams might win one.
Caldwell gets his shot Sunday.
He's the fourth black head coach to get this far. He could become the third to win a Super Bowl in the last four years. And his skin color isn't making headlines.
"The fact that it's becoming less of a story," Caldwell said, "shows you that some progress is being made."
Wilbon agreed.
"On some level, the Rooney Rule is working, even if it's in a back-end way," he said. "The NFL has made strides. It's certainly doing a lot better than the colleges."
(Ray McNulty is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida. This column reflects his opinion. For more of his thoughts on sports, you can follow his blog at www.tcpalm.com/mcnulty. He can be reached at ray.mcnulty(at)scripps.com.)
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