NFL Might Make Changes To The Rooney Rule

Ten years ago, after an extended period of lobbying by Pittsburgh Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, the National Football League instituted the Rooney Rule which requires all teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coach and general manager vacancies. In the decade since, twice as many head coaches (12) have landed jobs than did in the eighty years prior. Unfortunately, this offseason didn’t exactly work as planned. Fifteen head coaching and general manager jobs opened after the season and not one single minority candidate was hired.

According to ESPN, the lack of minority hires has convinced many people in and around the NFL to begin questioning whether the rule should be tinkered with. The concern is that some teams are simply interviewing one minority candidate to get the rule out of the way and not even seriously considering the person as a potential hire. The easiest way to fix such concerns would be to require all teams to interview a minority candidate for coordinator positions as well, which hypothetically would expand the pool of potential head coaches who could move up the ladder and prove their talent.

No one is pushing for the NFL to institute mandatory minority hires. Everyone involved simply wants teams to hire a qualified applicant for the job that may or may not be a person of color. Adding more position coaches and coordinators to the mix would make the process far more natural.