The NFL is taking a victory lap over the fact that four NFL teams have hired minority head coaches this cycle. Commissioner Roger Goodell, however, argues that continuing to implement and enforce the Rooney Rule remains a necessity.
“Not having it be necessary would be a wonderful world for us”, Goodell said during his meeting with the press. “I personally believe that it’s still necessary because I think we want to show the benefits of looking at a diverse slate of candidates”.
While the Rooney Rule has changed shape a number of times under Goodell, the core principle has remained the same. It requires that teams interview minority candidates for positions of power. Head coach or general manager searches require two such interviews. Coordinator positions require one.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, for example, had an opening at offensive coordinator this offseason; they interviewed three candidates, including two minorities in Jerrod Johnson and Thomas Brown. They hired Arthur Smith, who is as white as I am, but he also had the strongest resume by far.
The Rooney Rule got its name from the late Dan Rooney, the former Steelers owner who championed issues of equality. The original rule came about following a particularly brutal firing cycle in which the population of minority head coaches plummeted by half.
With the latest round of hirings, the population of minority head coaches doubled. At least, after factoring in the firing of Ron Rivera. Joining Mike Tomlin, Robert Saleh, Todd Bowles, and DeMeco Ryans are Antonio Pierce, David Canales Jerod Mayo, and Raheem Morris. Pierce served as the Oakland Raiders’ interim head coach in 2023. Mayo was anointed successor to Bill Belichick in his contract with the New England Patriots.
Of those eight minority head coaches, Tomlin is alone in the old guard. He’s been on the job since 2007. Saleh has the second-longest tenure, and he became head coach of the New York Jets in…2021.
Seven of the eight minority head coaches have only been hired in the past four seasons with half of them new to the job. But there are 29 current head coaches who have only gotten their jobs since 2017. In addition to Tomlin, John Harbaugh and Andy Reid are the only others who have been in their posts for a decade or more.
Even advocates have come to criticize the Rooney Rule over the years. For one thing, it had not been producing the intended results. Many argue that teams only go through the motions before hiring a predetermined candidate. These token interviews are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit filed by former Steelers assistant Brian Flores.
Recent tweaks to the rule have included incentives for teams to develop quality minority candidates. If a team hires a head coach or general manager from another team’s staff, the second team receives two third-round compensatory draft picks. That coach must have been with the team for at least two consecutive seasons.
As for the NFL, Goodell said that he sees the Rooney Rule staying “for the foreseeable future”, calling it beneficial. “We’ll continue it”, he added.
