NFL laments recent hires weren't minorities; adjust Rooney Rule?

[Reg]

ESPN.com news services

There has been plenty of turnover in coach and general manager positions in the NFL this offseason, but the league acknowledged Friday that teams can do better when it comes to hiring minorities.

NFL vice president of human resources Robert Gulliver said the league is looking at making adjustments to the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority before making a hire.

Of the eight new head coaches and seven general manager jobs that have been filled since the end of last offseason, none have gone to a minority. The Jets have yet to officially hire a new GM, though sources tell ESPN that it will be Seahawks executive John Idzik, who is also not a minority.

Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, Marvin Lewis of the Bengals and Leslie Frazier of the Vikings are the only black coaches among the 32 teams.

"While there has been full compliance with the interview requirements of the Rooney Rule and we wish the new head coaches and general managers much success, the hiring results this year have been unexpected and reflect a disappointing lack of diversity," Gulliver said. "The Rooney Rule has been a valuable tool in expanding diversity and inclusion in hiring practices, but there is more work to do, especially around increasing and strengthening the pipeline of diverse candidates for head coach and senior football executive positions.

"We have already started the process of developing a plan for additional steps that will better ensure more diversity and inclusion on a regular basis in our hiring results. We look forward to discussing these steps with our advisers to ensure that our employment, development and equal opportunity programs are both robust and successful."

[LMD]

Rooney Rule's a joke. If there was a good and qualified black coach, they'd be hired.

Cue the articles popping up about how Jim Caldwell, one of the worst head coaches I've ever had the displeasure of watching, should have been hired. Or how Lovie Smith deserves a head coaching job because he had to watch his teams collapse the past couple of years.

[SOS4Prez]

This somehow doesn't strike me as "equal."

[G-men]

Exactly. Who cares if a minority coach didn't get hired this year? Plenty get hired every year. Nobody would care if no white coaches get hired but if a black coach doesn't than it's a big deal. When there's a qualified one, they will get hired. There's black GM's, owners, coaches and players. Just because one wasn't hired this year doesn't mean there's something wrong with the already flawed Rooney Rule

[pooh555]

There was a good point made somewhere on TV today, I forget where, but this year it was mostly offensive minded coaches selected as head coaches, there are essentially no minority offensive coordinators in the NFL right now. That pretty much explains why no HCs were hired. You may be able to force some people to hire minorities, but you can't force them to hire a philosophy they don't want.

[Reveryroadie]

waiting for some group like the BCA(black coaches association) starts screaming that the NFL and NCAA are more racist now than in the past, and demanding that the leagues make it a REQUIREMENT that minorities are hired as HC's, OC's and DC's