The National Football League has issued a mandate to all team owners regarding minority coaches, especially Black ones.
All 32 NFL owners are now required to hire minorities as offensive assistants for the upcoming season in the fall of 2022 and beyond.
The coach can be “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority,” according to the policy implemented by NFL owners at their annual off-season meeting in Florida, ESPN reports.
“It’s a recognition that at the moment, when you look at steppingstones for a head coach, they are the coordinator positions,” said owner Art Rooney II, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the chairman of the NFL Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. “We clearly have a trend where coaches are coming from the offensive side of the ball in recent years, and we clearly do not have as many minorities in the offensive coordinator [job].”
This is a further extension of the Rooney Rule that was spearheaded by the late, legendary Art Rooney Sr. who owned the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not coincidentally, the Steelers famously hired Mike Tomlin who has gone on to appear in two Super Bowls, winning one. Tomlin is also the first head coach in NFL history to never have a losing record in the first 15 years of his coaching career.
Also ironic is the fact that the Steelers have the most Super Bowl wins (6) in NFL history. The New England Patriots are tied with the 49ers and the Cowboys for second most Super Bowl wins (5).
Commissioner Roger Goodell said in February that the league failed atrociously regarding the matter of hiring Black coaches and other minorities. The NFL was embarrassed when former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the league accusing them of collusion and systemic racism.
Currently, there are only five minority head coaches in a league that is comprised of more than 70 percent minority players, most of them Black.
The league is also requiring the league to substantially increase its hiring of women, who make up nearly half of the NFL’s fan base but has not seen their investment in the league rewarded with females in key positions.
