• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

San Francisco Sports Today

San Francisco Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Baseball
    • A’s
    • Giants
  • Football
    • 49’ers
    • Raiders
  • Basketball
    • Kings
    • Warriers
  • Sharks
  • Earthquakes
  • Colleges
    • San Jose State
    • Stanford
    • University of California, Berkeley

How Bill Walsh Fellowship changes lives: Meet Raiders’ participant Isaac Parker

July 24, 2021 by Silver And Black Pride Leave a Comment

Coach Bill Walsh 1931 - 2007
Bill Walsh | Photo by Sporting News via Getty Images/Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images

Exclusive interview with Las Vegas Raiders’ Bill Walsh Fellowship Participant

For more than 30 years, the NFL has helped organize the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program, which seeks to increase the number of minority coaches in the league and sports in general.

The program allows qualified candidates to observe, participate and gain experience at training camps, offseason workout programs and minicamps. Every team is encouraged to participate, and I was fortunate enough to speak with one of this year’s participants for the Las Vegas Raiders, Isaac Parker.

Parker is in his third season as the head football coach at the prestigious Willamette University, a program that produced nothing but elite athletes like yours truly. Previously, he was the offensive coordinator at another Division III school and served as a high school coach for over 10 years in the Salem, Oregon area.

Willamette Football Head Coach Isaac Parker
https://www.wubearcats.com/sports/fball/coaches/parker?view=bio
Isaac Parker

The transition from prep to college is what encouraged Parker to pursue the Bill Walsh Fellowship program:

“I was just looking for every and any opportunity to grow as a coach now that it was my full-time job…being a Willamette grad, you learn to be a life-long learner so it was just innate for me to try and learn from the best so I can do my job as well as I can do it.”

This season will be Parker’s second participating in the program as he got to spend training camp with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018. He mentioned how impactful it was to learn from another minority coach in Marvin Lewis: “To see someone who also participated in the program make it to the highest level and take you under his wing is a very uplifting feeling.”

Parker also credits his time in Cincinnati as a big reason why he’s able to spend training camp in Las Vegas this August.

I asked what factored into his decision head down to Sin City this time around, and if the organization’s history of giving minorities opportunities that they may not have received elsewhere played a role:

“The location is helpful [given the proximity to Oregon] and as a former offensive line coach, the opportunity to work with someone well-respected like Tom Cable is intriguing. The Raiders’ history of giving minority opportunities makes this opportunity mean a little more…especially since Asian-Pacific Islanders are still unrepresented in the NFL, so I’m able to help break another diversity frontier in a way.”

Outside of location, another aspect that’s different this time for Parker is that he gets to experience everything through the lens of a head coach. With the Bengals, he was still an offensive coordinator at the time, and he said looks forward to picking Jon Gruden’s brain from a head coach’s perspective.

“I’m really excited to see internally what the messaging is in year four rather than year one since this will be year three for me at Willamette. There’s a parallel there that’s exciting for me to see. Continuing to listen and watch how things are installed and concepts are introduced down to the fundamentals of executing are the big reasons why I got into [the fellowship] in the first place.”

Willamette Head Football Coach Isaac Parker Addresses Team After Game
https://www.wubearcats.com/sports/fball/coaches/parker?view=bio
Isaac Parker Address Team

Parker believes being part of the Bill Walsh program has carved out a potential path to the NFL for him, in addition to helping him grow as a coach in general. Also, Parker recently hired a new defensive coordinator who he met in Cincinnati. So, the benefits are multifold.

One way the fellowship has helped create opportunities for minority coaches is by getting organizations to be more open to bringing in underrepresented demographics of people, which Parker feels is one of the most impactful aspects of the program. Teams hire people that they otherwise might not have known about and get to see what their capabilities are. Often, that leads to bigger and better roles down the line for those individuals.

Giving more opportunities to minority coaches has a residual impact on future generations as well. Being able to see other people who look like you in high-ranking positions gives young-up and-comers hope that they can accomplish the same feats. Parker pointed out Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo as someone he has looked up to throughout his career.

“It’s encouraging to see [minority] coaches doing it big. Seeing coach Niumatalolo and the success that he’s had at Navy is encouraging and inspirational for me. I’ve never had the chance to sit down and talk to him, so I think that’s where it’s cool, you can be an inspiration for someone without even really meeting them. That goes a long way and lets you know that it’s your abilities are what really matter.”

Willamette Football Head Coach Isaac Parker
https://www.wubearcats.com/sports/fball/coaches/parker?view=bio
Isaac Parker

I asked Parker what advice he would give to other minorities trying to make it in the industry:

“Don’t let negative experiences slow you down from doing your job and learning. I think our country is starting to understand what it really means to grant opportunities to people of groups, so I think there has to be a pool of people ready to take advantage of those opportunities. Keep your eyes on the next step and make sure you’re ready for it and can take advantage of it…Make it a personal responsibility to be the best you can be so that more opportunities are available for the people behind you.”

Filed Under: Raiders

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • 49ers to hire Steve Wilks as defensive coordinator
  • Aaron Rodgers: Darkness isolation retreat will get me closer to a “final, final decision”
  • Wednesday’s PFT Like has a strong 49ers’ vibe
  • (no title)
  • Nets to trade Kessler Edwards to Sacramento

Categories

  • 49'ers
  • A's
  • Earthquakes
  • Giants
  • Kings
  • Raiders
  • San Jose State
  • Sharks
  • Stanford
  • Uncategorized
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Warriers

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021

Our Partners

All Sports

  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • San Francisco Examiner
  • The Mercury News
  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • Forgotten 5
  • Golden Gate Sports
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • San Francisco Giants
  • Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - San Francisco Giants
  • MLB Trade Rumors - A's
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Giants
  • White Cleat Beat
  • Around The Foghorn
  • Athletics Nation
  • McCovey Chronicles

Basketball

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Sacramento Kings
  • A Royal Pain
  • Amico Hoops - Kings
  • Amico Hoops - Warriors
  • Blue Man Hoop
  • Golden State Of Mind
  • Hoops Hype - Warriors
  • Hoops Hype - Kings
  • Hoops Rumors - Warriors
  • Hoops Rumors - Kings
  • Lets Go Warriors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Golden State
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Sacramento
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Warriors
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Kings
  • Real GM - Warriors
  • Real GM - Kings
  • Sactown Royalty

Football

  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Las Vegas Raiders
  • 49ers Gab
  • Just Blog Baby
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors - San Francisco 49ers
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Las Vegas Raiders
  • Niners Nation
  • Niner Noise
  • Niners Wire
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors - 49ers
  • Pro Football Rumors - Raiders
  • Pro Football Talk - 49ers
  • Pro Football Talk - Raiders
  • Raiders Wire
  • Silver And Black Pride
  • Total 49ers

Hockey

  • Blades Of Teal
  • Fear The Fin
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Center Line Soccer
  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Busting Brackets
  • California Golden Blogs
  • College Sports Madness
  • College Football News
  • Rule Of Tree
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Daily Californian
  • The Stanford Daily
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in