For Ryan Clark, the Rooney Rule has run its course. The NFL provision spearheaded by the late Dan Rooney that requires team to interview minority candidate for prominent coaching and executive jobs, first for head coaches and then expanded out, is no longer needed in Clark’s mind.
On the most recent episode of The CW’s Inside the NFL, he argued teams have made a joke of the rule with token interviews and the league’s natural increase of minority hires means the requirement is no longer needed.
“NFL teams are entitled to hire who they feel is best for the coaching job, & at head coach I believe that’s moved beyond color,” Clark tweeted following the show’s airing. “Now, it’s time to create better resume & career building opportunities for minority to combat nepotism.”
Instead, Clark believes minority candidates should be supported in other ways, suggesting a mentor role where an individual would report directly to a head coach or general manager to gain valuable experience and insight that would simply make them more attractive candidates during the hiring process.
Clark cited the New England Patriots last two coaching hires, tabbing Jerod Mayo in 2024 and Mike Vrabel for 2025. The team wasn’t required to fulfill the updated Rooney Rule of interviewing two minority candidates for the head coaching position and were allowed to directly promote Mayo from defensive coordinator to head coach due to a stipulation in his contract. He lasted just one season before being fired on the final day of the regular season. The Patriots did interview minority candidates in the search for his replacement, Pep Hamilton and former Steelers QB Byron Leftwich, both out of the league, but predictably landed on Vrabel, the assumed frontrunner from the moment Mayo was officially canned. No one else who interviewed had a realistic chance at the job.
It’s not the first time Clark has argued the point. In 2020, he offered a similar thought.
Clark’s point of the token interview is fair. Often, it feels like candidates are being brought in just to check a box. There’s an argument to be made those candidates still receive something of value, the experience of how coordinator, head coach, and general manager interviews are conducted, but they still often feel like a sham more than substantial.
In 2024, there were a record nine minority head coaches: Jerod Mayo, Robert Saleh, Antonio Pierce, Dave Canales, Raheem Morris, Todd Bowles, Demeco Ryans, Mike McDaniel, and Mike Tomlin. That made up over one-quarter of the league. Still, that isn’t a dramatic increase compared to 20 years ago when the league had five in 2004: Dennis Green, Marvin Lewis, Lovie Smith, Herm Edwards, and Tony Dungy. In February of last year, commissioner Roger Goodell still deemed the rule necessary.
Not having it be necessary would be a wonderful world for us”, Goodell said in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. “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”.
The NFL has only expanded Rooney Rule requirements, not contracting. Meaning Clark isn’t likely to get his wish. But it’s a conversation worth revisiting so long as it can be approached with the nuance and level-headedness required to determine the best path forward. It was an important rule with the purest of intentions. The NFL must make sure whatever version of it exists stays that way.
