The National Football League announced on March 28 that all thirty-two teams would be required to hire either a woman or a person of color as an offensive assistant coach for the upcoming 2022 season. The requirement marks an adjustment to the existing Rooney Rule, a 2003 policy that requires teams to interview at least one person of “ethnic or racial minority” for the vacant head coaching positions and other coaching jobs.
Issues with NFL teams and the lack of diversity at the head coach position came to the forefront of discussion when recently-fired coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices this off-season.
The new rule marks the first time the League is required to hire coaches based on gender or skin color rather than qualifications.
According to NFL League reporting, fifty men of color held offensive coaching positions in 2020, while fifty-three men of color held defensive coaching positions. NFL teams typically have anywhere from nine to fifteen assistant coaches on staff.
“It’s a recognition that at the moment when you look at stepping stones for a head coach, they are the coordinator positions,” said Art Rooney II, the chairman of the NFL Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, according to ESPN. “We clearly have a trend where coaches are coming from the offensive side of the ball in recent years, and we clearly do not have as many minorities in the offensive coordinator.”
According to the League, the requirement to hire a minority coach will be paid for by a two-year fund.
The new language added to the Rooney Rule will help place more women in front of hiring panels. The number of women in coaching positions has increased over the past few years; twelve women were on coaching rosters at the start of the 2021 season.
ESPN asked Rooney about the possibility that a team could interview two white female candidates to satisfy the Rooney Rule without ever interviewing a minority candidate.
“The truth of the matter is that as of today, at least, there aren’t many women in the pool in terms of head coach,” Rooney said. “We hope that is going to change over the years, but for that reason, we didn’t see it as inhibiting the number of interviews for racial minorities at this point in time. Obviously, we can address that as time goes on, but for now, we didn’t see that as an issue.”
“Really,” he continued, “we are looking at probably the early stages of women entering the coaching ranks, so we may be a little ways away before that becomes a problem.”
All thirty-two NFL team owners responded in a joint letter.
“The NFL member clubs support the important goal of increasing diversity among ownership,” the letter read. “Accordingly, when evaluating a prospective ownership group of a member club pursuant to League policies, the membership will regard it as a positive and meaningful factor if the group includes diverse individuals who would have a significant equity stake in and involvement with the club, including serving as the controlling owner of the club.”