As expected, Monday’s Super Bowl press conference from Commissioner Roger Goodell included multiple questions about the effectiveness of the league’s diversity policies, given a hiring cycle that resulted in 10 head-coaching vacancies filled by one minority candidate (Robert Saleh) and no Black candidates.
Despite the numbers, Goodell defended the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to have multiple in-person interviews with minority candidates during head-coaching searches.
“I think the Rooney Rule has been seen as a positive by our clubs, by giving them an opportunity to look at a diverse set of candidates,” Goodell said. “They make the choice ultimately. But I think it’s shown them the value of that, to look at talent, where you might not know it or you may not see it. We’re in a competitive league. People are challenged — and we have 10 openings this year. Teams are trying to get the coach that they think can win. So I think taking the time pressure off of that is one of the things we focus on as a league and 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 a diversity of candidates. And I think that only benefits the NFL. And the Rooney Rule, I think, has done that not just in the NFL, but I think across industries on a global basis.”
The Rooney Rule requires only that the interviews occur. It does not, and never did, require a certain percentage of minority coaches to be hired. The obvious goal, however, is to attempt to create an environment in which those numbers naturally will increase to better reflect the demographics of the available candidates.
“I think we have to recognize that we get 10 openings this year,” Goodell said. “So I would say that the turnover in coaching . . . is pretty extraordinary in our industry. And so we have to take that into account, one. Two, I think 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 ability? I think some of the changes we made was giving more time for the interviews. I think we exceeded, my understanding, I believe, and the data is that we exceeded the [Rooney Rule] in every case in the hirings this year, which I think is very much a positive. 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 gonna see that from time to time, and that’s something we’ve got to just evaluate, see what we can learn, and then continue to focus on what can we do better across 32 clubs and the league.”
Goodell separately was asked whether the cancellation of the 2025 accelerator program impacted this year’s hiring cycle.
“The accelerator program . . . as I mentioned before, we reevaluate every program, we evaluate every policy,” Goodell said. “That’s from every time we implement something and every year, frankly, to make sure, what do we do to improve it? And how does it help us address the challenges in front of us? So, do I think that had any impact on this hiring schedule? No, but I think long term it’s something that we want to continue and figure out, how do we use that to make sure that people understand that the level of talent that’s out there, the extraordinary talent that’s out there, and how to give them the opportunities to continue their careers? And that goes for all the talent across the entire NFL, and people that are not in the NFL. I think that’s what makes us great is our people, whether it’s on the field or whether it’s off the field. And that’s something why we’re committed to . . . diversity.”
Goodell emphasized the league’s ongoing commitment to diversity (despite the fact that the current political climate has shown hostility to such concepts).
“I believe diversity is good for us,” Goodell said. “I think we have become a more diverse league across every platform, including coaching. But we still have more work to do. There’s got to be more steps, so we’re reevaluating everything we’re doing, including our accelerator program, including every aspect of our policies and our programs, to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow rather than yesterday. So we need to be looking at that and sort of saying, ‘OK, why did we have the results this year? What is it that we can be doing in training or education, or — and that goes for not just the candidates, but also the clubs. And how we can try to continue to increase the opportunities and the outcomes ultimately?”
The raw numbers contradict the suggestion that the league has “become more diverse” when it comes to coaching. But the problem is that the teams have not, through the accumulation of hires, reflected the diversity that the league aspires to exhibit.
Again, the teams, not the league, make the hires. Without true accountability when it comes to the basic data that shows an abundance of qualified minority candidates and a relative dearth of head-coaching hires, Goodell will continue to say the same things he’s been saying for 20 years — and the teams will continue to not practice what Goodell has been preaching.
