"Jemele Hill is a race baiter" - Fans slam ex-ESPN analyst after post criticizing Lions HC Dan Campbell resurfaces

When Dan Campbell was appointed head coach of the Detroit Lions, Jemele Hill, among others, did not see the success that was about to come to the Motor City. The franchise is now in the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1991, and the second time in its entire history. It is safe to say that Campbell has been a success with the Lions.

When he began, however, there were doubts about him right from the off. In his introductory press conference, he talked about biting the opposition's kneecaps off. Even though it was a figure of speech, it seemed disturbing and many were wondering whether he was qualified for the job.

Jemele Hill was among the doubters. The NFL has had a chronic lack of minority head coaches compared to the ethnic distribution of the playing population, the majority of whom are black.

That has not decreased significantly over the years despite the Rooney Rule being implemented, which requires at least one head coach from a non-majority white background to be interviewed.

Hill had taken aim at Dan Campbell at the time and wrote on X, then known as Twitter,

"This is who black coaches are losing opportunities to."

Now that Detroit is gearing up to play in the NFC Championship, some fans have taken the opportunity to remind her of, what turned out to be, a bad forecast. The former ESPN analyst was widely criticized on the same forum where she had initially posted her reaction. Here is a sample of some of the recent responses.

Dan Campbell proves Jemele Hill wrong at the same time as black coaches make NFL owners look out-of-touch

Dan Campbell has indeed proven Jemele Hill wrong by building a team with character and fight in them. But black coaches have also held their own when it comes to their teams' performances this season.

There were three head black head coaches in the league out of 32 when the regular season began. Mike Tomlin completed his 17th straight winning season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and took them to the Wild Card Round.

Todd Bowles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went to the Divisional Round before falling to the Lions. And DeMeco Ryans took the Houston Texans with a rookie quarterback to the Wild Card Round before being defeated by the Baltimore Ravens.

Hopefully, in the coming years, there might be more equitable representation in line with the playing population.