FLOWERY BRANCH — With the Falcons in the middle of a coaching search, here’s a review of the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which was established in 2003 to require NFL teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operations opportunities.
It was named after then-chairman of the workplace-diversity committee, Dan Rooney, the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Falcons owner Arthur Blank was a member of the original committee.
Blank invoked Rooney’s name Jan. 8 when discussing the coming search.
“I still remember doing this with Ambassador Rooney, who’s passed away now – Art Rooney’s father, Dan Rooney – when we were doing a coach search 17 years ago,” Blank said. “He called me out of the blue and he said, ‘I just want you to feel’ – because we were way down the road. We hadn’t selected a coach yet, and neither did he. He said, ‘Just take your time. Do this correctly.
“You’re going to hear that you can’t hire coordinators, you can’t hire position coaches. Hire the head coach immediately.’ And they had taken forever. The guy they selected was Mike Tomlin.”
Tomlin still is the Steelers coach, while the Falcons hired Bobby Petrino in 2007, and he didn’t finish that season as Falcons coach. The team since has hired Mike Smith, Dan Quinn and Arthur Smith. They have had two minority interim head coaches in Emmitt Thomas in 2007 and Raheem Morris in 2020.
The Rooney Rule encourages best hiring practices to foster and provide opportunity to diverse leadership throughout the NFL, according to the league.
“This diversity enriches the game and creates a more effective, quality organization from top to bottom,” according to the league.
Its original focus was on the historically low number of minorities in the head coaching ranks. Every team with a vacancy was required to interview at least one or more diverse candidates before making a new hire.
Teams have found ways to easily comply with the rule, which calls for fines and a loss of draft picks for teams. However, only one team has been fined – Lions for $200,000 in 2003, with no loss of draft picks.
In 2009, the rule was amended to include general manager jobs and equivalent front-office positions, requiring each team to interview a minimum of two external minority candidates.
In 2020, NFL owners approved a proposal to reward teams who developed minority talent that went on to become general managers or head coaches. Under this rule, the Saints picked up two third-round compensatory draft picks in 2021 and 2022 for the Falcons hiring Terry Fontenot as general manager.
If a team losses both a coach and personnel member, it would receive a third-round compensatory pick for three years.
In 2021, the NFL approved changes requiring every team to interview at least two external minority candidates for open head coaching positions and at least one external minority candidate for a coordinator job. The teams must conduct an in-person interview with at least two external candidates who are people of color and/or women. Virtual interviews don’t satisfy Rooney Rule requirements, according to the NFL.
Following the 2022 spring league meeting, NFL teams are now required to conduct outside interviews with a minority and/or female candidate for vacant QB coach positions. The rational was that many prospective head coaches begin their careers coaching quarterbacks.
The Falcons have interviewed the following minority candidates (all virtually):
- Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson
- 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks
- Ravens associate head coach/defensive line Anthony Weaver
- Panthers defensive coordinator Eijro Evero
The Falcons requested interviews with three other minority candidates:
- Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn
- Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce
- Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris
In February 2022, Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants alleging discrimination in his interview process.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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