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News broke that the NFL is considering making tweaks to the existing Rooney Rule requirements. Since 2003 when it was established, the Rooney Rule has had a huge impact in increasing minority participation in the NFL. Its success has caused other industries to embrace it. We look at its current iteration and the changes that the NFL is proposing.
Rooney Rule: What is it and what are the changes proposed?
The Rooney Rule is named after Dan Rooney, the erstwhile owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2002, head coaches Tony Dungy and Dennis Green, both members of an ethnic minority, were fired. This was despite the former having a winning season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the latter having his first losing season with the Minnesota Vikings in a decade.
This led to fierce criticism of the league. Dan Rooney, as the head of the league's diversity committee, spearheaded the effort for equality. He tried to ensure that at least one minority candidate was interviewed for the vacancy of general manager or head coach, if it opened up. Since then, it was expanded to include vacancies for all senior positions, and the definition of minority was expanded to include all ethnic minorities instead of just African Americans.
The current change that is being mooted with the Rooney Rule is that while ethnic minorities need to be considered, there is no mandate for in-person interviews. There is fear that this allows teams to not do proper vetting of minority coaches, instead using them as just a prop to tick off the requirement for the Rooney Rule. Now, for head coaches and general managers, an in-person interview of an external ethnic minority candidate will be mandatory.
This particular requirement is part of a pattern of an added push from the NFL. It has mandated that ethnic minorities outside the organization be interviewed for all top spots as part of the Rooney Rule. But with most of the hiring cycle becoming virtual due to present circumstances, the NFL is now mandating that for the top two spots at least, an in-person interview is a must. The hope is that physically meeting diverse candidates and spending more time with them will lead to more diversity in hiring as well.
The effect of this rule remains to be seen. Even then, it must be seen as a positive step by the NFL with recent news coming in about racist attitudes in the league.
