Fritz Pollard Alliance calls on NFL to Investigate Raiders' for potential Rooney Rule violation
FLOWERY BRANCH -- Everyone is not happy about the Oakland Raiders hiring Jon Gruden to be their next head coach.
The Fritz Pollard Alliance is requesting that the NFL investigate the Raiders for a possible violation of the league's Rooney Rule, which requires that minority candidates are interview for head coaching positions.
Fritz Pollard Alliance's lawyers, Cyrus Mehri and N. Jeremi Duru, on whether the Rooney Rule was considered before the announcement that Jon Gruden will return to the Oakland Raiders as head coach:
"We are deeply concerned by reports that the Oakland Raiders' owner, Mark Davis, came to an agreement with Jon Gruden about him becoming the Raiders' next head coach before interviewing any candidates of color. If so, the club violated the Rooney Rule, which was instituted by the NFL in 2003 and requires teams to interview at least one candidate of color for open head coaching and general manager positions.
"As soon as we learned of the reports, we formally requested that the NFL thoroughly investigate the matter to conclusively determine whether the Rooney Rule was violated - and if it was violated, to impose an appropriate punishment."
The Fritz Pollard Alliance is dedicated to promoting diversity and equality of job opportunity in the coaching, front-office and scouting staffs of NFL teams.
The league believes the Rooney was complied with.
"We believe the Rooney Rule was complied with. Minorities candidates were interviewed. We’ll see what decision they make,” NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart told NFL Media.
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
