Dan Rooney is coming home for good.
Timothy McNulty of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting on Thursday that Rooney will resign as U.S. ambassador to Ireland on Friday after serving three plus years in Dublin. The move has been expected to be coming for some time now.
The 80-year-old Steelers chairman emeritus returned to the US just last week after learning about the sudden of his daughter Rita Rooney Conway which forced him to be unavailable to assist US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on her visit to Dublin.
During his time in Ireland Rooney has also played a big part in trying to get a future regular season NFL game played at Croke Park, a sports stadium located in Dublin along with his Ambassador duties to the country.
Rooney, who was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, is also credited with spearheading the campaign that NFL teams with head coach and general manager vacancies interview at least one minority candidate, which has become known as the “Rooney Rule”.
It is unknown how big a role that Rooney will have upon his full-time return to Pittsburgh but one can assume that he will have a lot more first hand input into the league more-so than perhaps he has had since taking the Ambassador position.
