The NFL has tried to rework the Rooney Rule, which aims to increase the number of minority coaches.
But none of it will matter if owners remain closed-minded.
A 2021 expansion of the Rooney Rule, which requires every team to interview at least two external minority candidates in person for coaching and general manager positions, no Black coaches were hired during this year’s coaching cycle. This came after only Titans coach Robert Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent, was the only minority candidate to land a coaching job.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league would take a closer look at the Rooney Rule and “continue to make progress” on diversity.
“We are reviewing everything that we do, including our accredited program,” Goodell said earlier this week during his annual Super Bowl week news conference. “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? What is it that we could be doing in training, in education and that goes for not just the candidates, but the clubs.”
In a league that is around 70% Black, it is illogical to have only three coaches who identify as African American: Todd Bowles of the Buccaneers, Aaron Glenn of the Jets and DeMeco Ryans of the Texans. Saleh and Panthers coach Dave Canales, who is Mexican American, are the only other head coaches of color in the league.
This is not progress — it is a drastic step back. In 2024, the league set a record of nine head coaches of color, the most in NFL history. This milestone followed a 2024 hiring cycle where four minority head coaches (Canales, Raheem Morris, Jerod Mayo, and Antonio Pierce) were hired. Only Canales remains a head coach in the league.
Over the last two years, Glenn was the only Black coach hired out of 17 openings. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, one of the best assistant coaches in the league, was once again passed over for a coaching job. This came after Minnesota finished third in the league in yards (282.6) and seventh in points allowed (19.6).
However, it’s difficult to ignore that Flores still has a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and Texans. He is alleging racist hiring practices and “sham” interviews with him to comply with the Rooney Rule. After interviewing with the Ravens and Steelers this coaching cycle, Flores’ lawsuit probably contributed to his not receiving a second chance to coach after the Dolphins fired him following the 2021 season.
Unless the owners transform their approach to hiring coaches who don’t look like or think like them, it is hard to imagine much changing. Currently, there are as many Black coaches in the league as there were in 2003 (three), the year before the Rooney Rule was adopted.
“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.”
Representation is vital in many walks of life. That is the case in the NFL, where it isn’t just about the lack of Black coaches who are being hired. It is also about the shortage of Black general managers employed.
The 2025 season began with five Black general managers: Andrew Berry of the Browns, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah of the Minnesota Vikings, Terry Fontenot of the Falcons, Brad Holmes of the Lions, and Ryan Poles of the Bears. But Adofo-Mensah was fired by the Vikings last week. The Falcons also fired Fontenot hours after finishing with an 8-9 record.
In addition, the lack of Black offensive coaches is staggering. Eric Bieniemy (Chiefs) and Mike McDaniel (Chargers) are the only two coordinators of color in the league. Bieniemy won two Super Bowls as an assistant under Reid in Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes also won two MVPs (2018, 2022) under Bieniemy’s tutelage.
Despite that, Bieniemy hasn’t landed a single NFL head-coaching opportunity. Many will point out that Andy Reid has been the Chiefs’ primary offensive play-caller. However, many other offensive coordinators, such as Nathaniel Hackett, who wasn’t the primary playcaller, have become coaches in the league. Also, Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy, Bieniemy’s predecessors under Reid with the Chiefs, later became head coaches.
Being an offensive coordinator appears to be the fast track to landing a coaching job in the NFL, unless you’re Black, apparently.
It doesn’t help that in their second term, the Trump administration has implemented a sweeping “war on diversity.” The administration has issued multiple executive orders to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs nationwide. Nearly four months into the Trump administration’s second term, the NFL paused the league’s accelerator program.
Goodell doesn’t think the elimination of the program factored into the lack of diversity in this year’s coaching cycle.
“I think long term it’s something that we want to continue and figure out how could we use that to make sure that people understand the level of talent that is out there and how to give them the opportunities to continue their careers,” Goodell said. “That goes to all the talent across the entire NFL and people that are not in the NFL.”
Goodell and the league have said all the right things about the Rooney Rule and efforts to add more coaches of color. But talk is cheap until the number of coaches of color around the league increases.
Goodell will likely be asked about this again next year unless owners become comfortable with being uncomfortable about hiring minority candidates.
