BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Several Southwestern Athletic Conference assistant football coaches were selected to participate in the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship and will finish the off-season working side-by-side with NFL teams during Off-Season Training Activities (OTA) and training camp.Southern co-offensive coordinator, Chad Germany, Mississippi Valley State offensive coordinator, Alex Jackson, and Prairie View A&M wide receivers coach, Harry Williams, were picked for the opportunity to work along side the teams during full activities.
The Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship is an annual program administered by the NFL Management Council and NFL Player Engagement.
Designed as a vocational tool to increase the number of full-time NFL minority coaches, all 32 NFL Clubs participate in the program on an annual basis. Specific aspects of the program (including hiring, salary and coaching duties) are administered on a Club-by-Club basis.
Germany was selected to work the summer with the Minnesota Vikings. He enters his third season as a member of the Jaguars coaching staff and has been instrumental in the development of All-SWAC quarterback Dray Joseph.
Jackson, who is set to begin his first season as offensive coordinator with Delta Devils, joins Germany with the Vikings organization after serving part of last season in the interim role at MVSU. He took over as offensive coordinator midway through the season and makes a consecutive stint in the fellowship.
Williams was tagged by the Houston Texans to particiapte in the program. He joined the Prairie View A&M staff in 2009 as a volunteer assistant and played an integral part in the passing game as three receivers had career years in receptions and yards.
The NFL established the Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship Advisory Council in 2012 to further enhance the idea conceived by the late Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Bill Walsh. Walsh introduced the concept to expose talented minority college coaches to the NFL’s methods and philosophies when he invited a group of minority coaches to participate in San Francisco 49ers’ training camp.
Participants are hired for the duration of training camp, including all pre-season games and clubs are encouraged to hire a minimum of four participants.
Bill Walsh introduced the concept of a minority coaching internship program in 1987 when he brought a group of coaches to 49ers training camp. Eventually, this program was picked up by every NFL team and now, 26 years later, the NFL has renamed it the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship Program.
The program has given hundreds of coaches a foot in the door. Several current NFL head coaches, including Super Bowl winning coach Mike Tomlin, are graduates of the program.
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