One of the NFL’s most controversial rules is in danger of coming to an end which could lead to some interesting conversations by sports personalities and former NFL employees.
Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to put an end to Affirmative Action in a major victory for conservative activists, ending the systematic consideration of race in the admissions process to colleges, and in some cases, employment opportunities.
The court ruled that Affirmative Action plans – most notably the ones that took place at University of North Carolina and Harvard University – violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and are therefore unlawful. The vote was 6-3 in the UNC case and 6-2 in the Harvard case, in which liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was recused.
With the SCOTUS new ruling, many football fans now wonder if the Rooney Rule is now in danger of being thrown out as well.
According to the NFL Rulebook, the Rooney Rule requires that “all NFL teams must interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching positions. It has since been expanded to include other positions and more provisions like position coaches, coordinators, and front office positions.”
The rule is named after the late Dan Rooney, the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and former chairman of the league's diversity committee who spearheaded the initiative in 2002.
Many people have found that this rule is actually quite unhelpful as in recent years, the same few minority coaches have been interviewed for the position just so teams can be in compliance with the rule and not face heavy punishment from the league.
USA Today obtained a letter from the senior chairman of the NFL last week after the SCOTUS ruling addressing the elephant in the room.
“In light of the public interest in today's Supreme Court decisions and possible speculation about their scope and application in other business settings, we want to be clear about the NFL's commitment.” Read the letter sent out to League Employees that was obtained by USA Today, “Our dedication to the fundamental principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion remains unchanged. We will not pause in pursuing our policies and programs that are designed to create a level playing field, to ensure that diverse voices are heard and respected, and to hire, promote and develop leaders who represent the full spectrum of America.”
Despite what the league may say, the rule has only hindered the league from progressing and has created a sense of only looking to please certain radical racial groups and looking past qualifications. This has led to former NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith co-authoring an article with Yale Law Student Carl Lasker, “that calls for the NFL to “declare the Rooney Rule a failed experiment and to scrap it, with other specific measures implemented to improve hiring practices for coaches and other high-level employees.” according to Mike Florio of NBCSPORTS.com.
To summarize the article, the main points were that the league must Admit the Rooney Rule doesn’t work and abandon it. Adopt a “consistent, fair, transparent, and lawful system” for hiring and retention. Eliminate any rules requiring coaches to seek permission from the owners of their current teams to apply for jobs with other teams. Appoint an outside monitor to audit hiring processes and publish an annual report on progress of lack thereof. Develop league-wide job descriptions with objective guidelines for all key positions -- coach, GM, president, or CEO. Adopt strict punishment processes for teams that fail to comply, with massive fines for any offense. Utilize uniform and consistent evaluation guidelines. Devise rules limiting nepotism. Require all key jobs to be posted and held open for 30 days. Make every effort to help coaches get experience. Pre-screen interested candidates on a league-wide basis, which will make it harder for teams to simply ignore clearly qualified applicants. Embrace the concept of coaches unionizing.
The league has tried desperately for years to incentivize and give minorities a chance to become head coaches and all the Rooney Rule has done is make team interview a minority candidate despite said person not being the most qualified or a part of the teams true plans as they may want to promote staff members who are currently working for the organization and are more of a fit to the organization’s plans. It just was a waste of everyone's time and created an awkward feel for minority candidates and teams around the league who would only bring in minorities to cooperate with the league’s rules.
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"It was offensive, definitely offensive," Lewis said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun’s Mike Preston in May of 2020 when discussing the potential incentives being added to the Rooney Rule. "It was like having Jim Crow Laws. Draft picks are like gold, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. As a head coach, no one wants to be hired or put in that position."
Former Super Bowl winner and all-time great head coach Tony Dungy also has sounded off on the Rooney Rule in the past for how it potentially ruins the relationships he may have with other staff members.
“There's three things that they're worried about,” said Dungy during an interview with then-ProFootballTalk employee Mike Florio. “Number one, how does this put me in my relationship with the other coaches that I work with, and other white coaches? Are they thinking I'm getting an advantage now? Number two, when that general manager or owner hires me, is he hiring me because he thinks I'm the best person, or is he hiring me to move his draft choice up a little bit? And then the third thing is nobody feels like they want anything special….Don't hire me and then say I'm going to give you more draft choices later on because you need help. And I know that's not the reason why the proposal is being put in, I know that's not what they're driving at, but that's still the end result. And so there's still some things the league needs to think about, about this proposal.”
Despite what the NFL may say to their employees now, they could be forced to change the rule due to how the Supreme Court ruled that Affirmative Action in Colleges is now unconstitutional and that people should only be viewed on their track record, achievements, and qualifications and not given an easier route just because the color of someone's skin color is different.
This is a step towards ending reverse discrimination in our country, which has led to people getting jobs not based on being qualified, but because they are a minority and are only given the spot due to companies, organizations, and universities needing to hit “diversity quotas.”