NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday that he believes all 10 teams with head coaching vacancies this hiring cycle exceeded the Rooney Rule's requisite two interviews of minority candidates, but also that the league would take a closer a look at the rule and all that it encompasses to "continue to make progress" on diversity.
"I think we have become a more diverse league across every platform including coaching, but we still have more work to do," Goodell said at the San Jose Convention Center during his annual Super Bowl week news conference, as reported by ESPN. "There's got to be more steps. We're reevaluating everything we're doing, including the accelerator program, including every aspect of our policies in our program to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow rather than yesterday. We need to be looking at that and why did we have those results this year?"
The Rooney Rule was adopted in 2003 and requires every team with a head coaching, coordinator or general manager opening to interview at least two minority candidates before it can make a hire. Teams must also interview at least one minority candidate for the position of quarterbacks coach, according to ESPN.
"Still, Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent, was the only minority candidate to land a top job, and no Black head coaches were hired," ESPN's Nick Wagoner wrote. "It's the fifth time since the Rooney Rule was implemented that no Black head coaches were hired during an offseason cycle."
There are currently three Black head coaches in the NFL: DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texas, Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets.
"We have to continue to evaluate everything we're doing and every aspect of the hiring process, how do we professionalize it to the best of our ability," Goodell said. "I think some of the changes we made was giving more time for the interviews. ... But we're going to see that from year to year where you have different outcomes and that's something we've got to look at. But we're going to see that from time to time and that's something we've got to just evaluate so we can learn and then continue to focus on what can we do better across 32 clubs and the league."
As reported by Wagoner, Goodell insisted that — despite this year's meager results — the rule remains a net positive and said changes in how and when teams can interview candidates has opened doors for more candidates to be interviewed. "He added that teams around the league would dispute the notion that it has become a box to check for teams looking to hire coaches or football decision-makers," Wagoner wrote.
"We're in a competitive league," Goodell said. "People are challenged and we had 10 openings this year. Teams are trying to get the coaches they think can win. I think taking the time pressure off of that is one of the things we focused on as a league in the policy to give them that time so that they can make a really good decision that they make independently. But a decision that is based on being able to look at the diversity of candidates. And I think that only benefits the NFL, and the Rooney Rule I think has done that."
