Rooney Rule (NFL policy)
The Rooney Rule is a policy established by the National Football League (NFL) in 2003 that mandates teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and front office positions. Named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the rule was instituted to promote diversity in hiring within a league historically criticized for a lack of representation. Initially requiring just one minority interview for head coaching vacancies, the rule has since evolved to stipulate that teams must interview at least two minority candidates for head coaching roles and one for key coordinator positions.
Over the years, the effectiveness of the Rooney Rule has faced scrutiny, as some argue that it has not sufficiently led to actual hiring of minority coaches and executives. Critics have pointed out instances where teams interviewed minority candidates merely to comply with the policy without genuine intent to hire. Despite these challenges, the rule has resulted in an increase in minority representation among NFL coaches and executives, with nine minority head coaches in the league as of 2024. The NFL continues to refine the Rooney Rule to enhance its impact, aiming to foster a more inclusive environment reflective of the diverse player base.
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Rooney Rule (NFL policy)
The Rooney Rule is a hiring policy that requires National Football League (NFL) teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and front office positions. The policy was implemented in 2003 and named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who led the effort to pass the measure. Initially, the rule applied only to head coaching candidates and required teams to interview at least one minority candidate during the hiring process. The policy was later amended to require that two minority head coaching candidates be interviewed. It also expanded the rule to include coordinator positions and front office jobs. After taking effect, the Rooney Rule resulted in more diversity in the NFL coaching and front office ranks. However, the rule was also criticized for not going far enough to ensure that minority coaches are hired by NFL teams.
Background
The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association before taking on its modern name in 1922. Fritz Pollard, a Black American, was a key player for the Akron Pros, the league’s first champion in 1920. A year later, he was named player-coach, becoming the first Black coach in NFL history. Pollard coached again in 1925 and played in the NFL until 1926, when the league decided to segregate and expel all its Black players. Although Pollard pushed the NFL to reconsider, the league remained segregated until 1946.
In 1967, Tom Fears became the first Hispanic American head coach in the NFL, leading the New Orleans Saints until 1970. In 1979, the Oakland Raiders hired Hispanic American Tom Flores, who went on to lead the Raiders to two Super Bowl titles. The NFL did not hire another Black American head coach until 1989 when Art Shell assumed that role with the then-Los Angeles Raiders. Shell coached the Raiders until 1994 and returned to that job for one more season in 2006. From 1992 to 2001, four more Black Americans were hired as NFL head coaches. These included Dennis Green in 1992, Ray Rhodes in 1995, Tony Dungy in 1996, and Herman Edwards in 2001.
Overview
Rhodes was fired in 1998 after a 3–13 season with the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2001, Green and Dungy were fired, despite both coaches having considerable success during their careers. Green had a 97–62 record with the Minnesota Vikings and led the team to eight playoff appearances in ten seasons. Dungy, who had helped revitalize a long-suffering Tampa Bay Buccaneer franchise, led the team to the playoffs in four of seven seasons, including 2001. While Dungy was immediately hired by the Indianapolis Colts in 2002, at that time, he and Edwards were the only two Black coaches in the NFL.
The firing of Green and Dungy and the lack of Black coaches in the league stoked anger and brought calls for change in the NFL. A group of prominent civil rights attorneys and former players began lobbying the NFL league to make its hiring process more inclusive. League commissioner Paul Tagliabue approached Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney to lead the drive for a more diverse hiring policy. At the time, Rooney was the chair of the NFL’s diversity committee. He was also a respected NFL owner with a history of diplomacy and a track record of hiring minority candidates. With Rooney steering the effort, the NFL passed its new hiring policy in 2003.
Dubbed the Rooney Rule, the policy required each NFL team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority candidate for the job. The first year the rule was in place, the Detroit Lions violated the policy by hiring a White head coach without interviewing any other candidates. The team was fined $200,000. By 2006, the number of minority head coaches in the NFL had risen to seven, eventually reaching eight out of thirty-two teams in 2011 and 2017.
Following its inception, the Rooney Rule inspired similar policies in businesses outside the NFL. Within the league, the rule was expanded in 2009 to include front office positions in football operations, such as general manager, and the team official responsible for personnel moves and day-to-day activities. However, some critics voiced concerns over the effectiveness of the policy. Many noted that NFL teams often gave a minority candidate an interview just to fulfill the requirement and then hired a preferred White candidate. Others noted the continued bypassing of qualified minority candidates in favor of White coaching hires. By 2020, the number of minority coaches in the NFL had fallen to four, with only one hired after the 2018 season.
In 2020 the NFL addressed the situation by further amending the Rooney Rule. The updated policy called for teams to interview at least two minority candidates for any head coaching opening and at least one minority candidate for key coordinator positions. These included offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators. The rule was also further expanded to include more front office positions. Interviews for executive front office positions—such as team president, head of football operations, general manager, and other high-ranking positions—were required to include at least one minority and/or female candidate. Other changes associated with the rule loosened the restrictions that teams could impose on coordinators or coaches who became candidates for a head coaching job with another team. The updated policy also established a minority coaching program with each NFL team.
A year after the updated Rooney Rule was implemented, the NFL reported that diversity in hiring almost doubled. In 2020 an estimated 18.8 percent of all new hires in the league went to minority candidates. A year later, that rate was 34.6 percent. The number of interview requests for minority candidates also jumped from 22 percent in 2020 to 47 percent in 2021. Prior to the 2021 season, the number of minority head coaches in the NFL stood at five.
Despite gains in some areas, the Rooney Rule continued to draw criticism from those who felt it did not go far enough to ensure true equity in NFL hiring practices. The issue generated considerable attention after Brian Flores was fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins following the 2021 season. Flores failed to land another head coaching position despite several vacancies and, in early 2022, filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins, and two other teams alleging racial discrimination. Notably, he accused the Denver Broncos of interviewing him back in 2019 simply to satisfy the Rooney Rule and claimed the New York Giants acted similarly in 2022. Soon after, a group of civil rights organizations called on the NFL to replace the Rooney Rule with stronger measures. Many observers criticized the fact that during that off season, there was only one Black head coach in the league despite the majority of players being Black.
In late March 2022, the NFL announced further changes to the Rooney Rule. Every team would be required to have at least one offensive assistant coach who identified as a racial or ethnic minority or a female, due in part to the fact that offensive coaching positions were seen as the main pipeline for head coaching jobs. The league would contribute to the salaries of such coaches for up to two years. Teams would also be blocked from using virtual interviews for general manager and head coach openings.
Due to these changes and public attention to the issue, the number of minority coaches and other leadership positions continued to grow. In 2024, the league had nine minority head coaches, its highest number ever. This meant that 28 percent of NFL coaches were minorities. The NFL continues to address issues that arise concerning the fairness of the Rooney Rule to create a more diverse community within the league.
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