NFL Rooney Rule explained: How it works and why it's important?

The Rooney Rule, introduced in 2003, requires NFL teams to interview even minority candidates for head coaching and football operations opportunities in senior manager positions. It is often cited as an example of positive action.

The rule is named for Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and chairman of the league's diversity committee, and indirectly for the Rooney family at large, due to the Steelers' long history of giving African-Americans opportunities to serve the team in important positions. Until 1979, Fritz Pollard was the only minority head coach in NFL history.

The rule was put in place to ensure that minority coaches, especially African-Americans were offered high-level coaching positions. Dungy struggled for years before landing a head coaching job; he was often promoted to head coaching candidate by Chuck Noll when Dungy was an assistant under Noll in the 1980s with the Steelers, but would not become head coach until 1996 when he took over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Since the Rooney Rule was established, several NFL ball have hired African-American coaches, including the Steelers, who hired Mike Tomlin before his 2007 season. At the beginning of the 2006 season, the total percentage of African-American coaches increased to 22%, from 6% before the Rooney Rule. Despite this, the effectiveness of the rule remains a matter of debate, and no team has claimed that the rule helped hire a minority coach.

A lack of diversity in the NFL for coaches

There's currently some controversy as Ex-Head Coach of the Miami Dolphins Brian Flores just dropped a bombshell and is suing the NFL for lack of diversity, racial discrimination, foul hiring practices, amongst other issues.

In the 58-page lawsuit, Flores claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross tried to incentivize him to deliberately miss games shortly after he was hired in 2019. Flores also alleged that the Giants interviewed him last month for the head coaching vacancy for no other reason than to comply with the NFL's Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for their open positions.

Given the impact of systemic racism on all elements of society, it is not surprising that NFL coaches, analysts and scholars, including media studies, sports studies, sociology, sports management and behavioral science, point to systemic racism as one of the main reasons for the lack of black or hispanic coaches in the league.

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