MIAMI – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday that the league must “change and do something different” to address its lack of diversity in the head coaching ranks of the 32 franchises.
“Clearly we are not where we want to be on this level,” Goodell said at his annual state-of-the-league address and news conference during Super Bowl week. “We have a lot of work that’s gone into not only the Rooney Rule but our policies overall. It’s clear we need to change and do something different. There’s no reason to expect we’re going to have a different outcome next year without those kinds of changes.”
Goodell’s comments came after a hiring cycle for coaches in which only one minority head coach was hired – Ron Rivera by the Washington Redskins – among the five vacancies that were filled leaguewide. That left the NFL with four minority head coaches among its 32 teams: Rivera with the Redskins, Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Anthony Lynn with the Los Angeles Chargers and Brian Flores with the Miami Dolphins.
No African American head coaches were hired during this cycle. The issue is on vivid display this week with two prominent minority coordinators, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, in Miami to prepare their teams for Sunday’s Super Bowl. Both were passed over for head coaching opportunities during this hiring cycle.
Goodell did not disclose specific remedies but said deliberations on the issue are underway.
“We’ve already begun engaging in those changes – not just with our diversity committee, not just with the Fritz Pollard Alliance, but others – and trying to figure out what steps we could take next that would lead to better outcomes,” Goodell said. “It’s clear we’re all committed to doing that and we have to make those changes. So we will have a series of meetings which we’ve already scheduled over the next month to get that kind of dialogue going, to continue the dialogue to try to determine what are the solutions so we can have those better outcomes.”
Others have suggested possible changes to the Rooney Rule, which requires each NFL team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority candidate. The league previously extended the rule to cover some coordinator vacancies on an informal basis, without penalties for noncompliance. The rule – named for late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the former chairman of the league’s diversity committee – could be extended to include all coordinator openings on a formal basis, with penalties for any teams that don’t comply.
The idea of extending the rule to cover coordinator vacancies would represent an attempt to diversify the candidate pool for head coaching jobs. The Rooney Rule also could be modified to require interviews with multiple minority candidates for head coaching vacancies.
The Fritz Pollard Alliance, the diversity group that works closely with the league on its minority hiring, previously criticized the league’s hiring practices and called on the NFL and owners of teams to take tangible steps to make improvements.
