Former NFL Player James Hasty Launches First African American-Owned Search Firm to End Biases in Sports Hiring

October 19, 2021 Zhane Squire

Proprietary candidate evaluation tool key to leveling the playing field for candidates seeking coaching and leadership positions with collegiate and professional teams

DALLAS, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Former NFL cornerback James Hasty is working to eliminate biases and racial disparity in sports hiring through his new search firm, Eneje (pronounced IN-N-JAY) Consulting, and a proprietary candidate evaluation tool called the Coaching Performance Assessment System (CPAS). Eneje is the first African American-owned search firm to work exclusively in the sports industry.

Hasty founded Eneje to help ensure more diversity and inclusion in sports.

“On the field and court, some of the most lauded athletes are among the most underrepresented groups in the coaching and management of collegiate and professional organizations,” Hasty said. “We’re here to change that.”

Among Eneje’s supporters are key NFL figures like former player and Fritz Pollard Alliance Chairman John Wooten, who led the nonprofit that champions diversity in the NFL from its 2003 inception until his 2019 retirement.

“Eneje can be a great spoke in the wheel for diversity and inclusion in the NFL,” Wooten said. “There is more work to be done, and I believe Hasty can make a huge difference in working with the NFL for candidates of all races and backgrounds.”

By employing impartial methodology, Eneje promotes fairness across the board and levels the playing field among sports professionals competing for coaching and front-office positions. CPAS is a provisional patented algorithm that uses data analytics and machine learning to objectively and accurately evaluate individuals’ careers, empowering Eneje to go beyond traditional statistics.

“We collaborate with teams to determine the most desirable characteristics for a specific position and find the right person for the job every time,” Hasty said. “Eneje takes implicit biases like race, gender and nepotism out of the equation and identifies candidates who fit the precise criteria teams are seeking.”

The route to the best candidate – whether that’s an African American, female or someone else – starts and ends with CPAS. The placement professionals at Eneje use the mathematically based assessment tool to analyze both quantitative and qualitative factors that include key statistics, proven talent, experience, successes and psychological aptitude.

The qualitative aspect covers a long list of desirable characteristics, such as leadership, management approach, race neutrality and teaching style. Eneje gathered this data with the help of Steven Cureton, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, including:

Wooten
Head coaches Bruce Arians, Andy Reid, Brian Flores and Herm Edwards
Former Arizona Cardinals Manager Rod Graves and New York Giants General Manager Jerry Reese
Esteemed college athletic directors like Etienne Thomas at Winston Salem State University and Ray Anderson at Arizona State University
Attorneys Cyrus Mehri and Jeremi Duru

Eneje takes into account more than a win-loss record when analyzing coaching candidates, leveraging CPAS to remove subjectivity and focus on the things that matter most in a great coach or manager. CPAS provides organizations a holistic view of candidates, who are scored based on the very qualities they value most.

Whether a high school coach dreams of making it to the big leagues, or an offensive coordinator wants to move up the ranks, Eneje creates opportunities for them to showcase their abilities to key decision makers. Coaches may add themselves to the CPAS database, where collegiate and professional teams around the country are more likely to discover them.

Eneje can help every sports organization fulfill its commitment to equality with proven criteria that improve not just coaching and front-office candidate selection, but also the entire game.

“When you put the best personnel on the sidelines, you upgrade the quality of the people running programs, and make the game better and safer for everyone,” Hasty said. “That’s what Eneje is helping to accomplish.”

For more information, visit https://www.enejeconsult.com/.

About James Hasty
Hasty has a proven track record both on and off the field. During his 13-year NFL career (from 1988 to 2001), he played for the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders. Hasty finished his career with more than 1,000 tackles and 45 interceptions. He then served as a dedicated volunteer high school defensive coordinator and worked for ESPN as a college and NFL analyst. After five years in the broadcast booth, he launched a wholesale fuel distributorship before forming Eneje in 2021.

SOURCE Eneje Consulting