The NFL announced Monday that all 32 teams will be required to have a minority assistant on their offensive staffs for the 2022 season, a new requirement under the league’s Rooney Rule.
The move to look specifically at representation on the attacking side of football is a direct endorsement that many of the league’s head coaches hail from the offensive ranks. In the 2022 hiring cycle alone, twice as many coaches (six) came from an offensive background than from a defensive one (three).
The pipeline for offensive minorities is lacking, Steelers owner Art Rooney II reiterated Monday.
“We recognize that we’ve seen progress on some fronts,” said Rooney, chair of the league’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, “but we still have a long way to go on other fronts.”
The NFL saw the number of people of color increase in all coaching positions from 35% in the 2020 season to 39% last season. The number of defensive coordinators increased by two to 15 for an all-time high; an increase in minority GMs (five to seven) and alternate GMs (three to six).
Teams receive league funding on the coach’s salary for up to two years. Overall, the inclusion of women in all Rooney Rule requirements is intended to counteract the under-representation of women in key positions in football. The league believes this will “encourage the further identification and development of female candidates and the opportunity to provide them with additional interviewing opportunities for job vacancies”.
A total of 12 female coaches at the start of the 2021 season was an all-time high. Dasha Smith, the NFL’s chief administrative officer and one of the league’s highest-ranking women, noted that this year marked the first time a female candidate was interviewed for the position of general manager.
Smith also said virtual interviews will no longer be acceptable for head coaching and general manager positions and there will be specific requirements for candidates to become offensive assistants. This includes at least three years of experience at the college or professional level.
Only five people from minority backgrounds are currently head coaches in the NFL: Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins), Ron Rivera (Washington Commanders), Robert Saleh (New York Jets), Lovie Smith (Houston Texans) and Mike Tomlin (Steelers). The ratio is staggering in a league where more than two-thirds of the players are black.
The league also passed a resolution to increase diversity ownership of franchises and created a Diversity Advisory Committee that includes Peter Harvey, a former New Jersey Attorney General; Rick Smith, a former general manager of the Houston Texans; and Don Thompson, former President and CEO of McDonald’s Corporation.
Mike Tomlin earlier Monday said he didn’t hire Brian Flores as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers out of sympathy for the former Miami Dolphins head coach.
Tomlin, who is black like Flores, did this because Flores is “a good coach”. That Flores sued the NFL and three teams — the Dolphins, Giants and Broncos — for racist hiring practices didn’t dissuade the longtime Steelers coach, Tomlin said.
As a member of the league’s influential competitions committee and one of the most influential coaches in the sport, Tomlin spoke strongly about the lack of minority head coaches in the NFL.
“I haven’t been involved in any discussions and no, I don’t have any confidence that would make me believe things are getting better,” Tomlin said. “I’m more of a show me guy than a guy who sits around and talks about things.
“I think we’ve scoured the whole discussion and the whole issue and have done a lot of useful things,” Tomlin added of adjustments to the Rooney Rule, which was passed in 2003 to improve employment opportunities for minorities. “But we have to land the plane. We need to hire capable candidates.”
That includes, in Tomlin’s assessment and actions, Flores, whose lawsuit has been a major issue this offseason. Flores was fired from the Dolphins despite helping reverse a faltering franchise in his three seasons as coach, going 19-14 in the last two years.