Steelers President Art Rooney has issued a statement following the recent lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, that in part makes claims of racism.
Rooney is the son of the late Dan Rooney, for which the Rooney Rule was named and first implemented 2003.
The original aim of the rule was to encourage more organizations in the NFL to hire minorities by being required to interview at least one candidate of color when looking to fill a coaching or front office position.
Rooney said in his statement:
I am not going to comment on the specific allegations in the lawsuit brought by Brian Flores, but I do want to comment on the general state of affairs in regards to the Diversity policies and the NFL.
Over the past several years, our Diversity Committee has recommended, and Ownership has adopted, a number of enhancements to the Rooney Rule as well as new policies designed to ensure that women and minorities are receiving full and fair consideration for coaching and front office positions. The details of these enhancements and new policies have been previously been made available. While I acknowledge that we have not seen progress in the ranks of Head Coaching, we have seen marked improvement in the hiring of women and minorities in other key leadership rules such as Coordinator positions, General Manager positions, and front office positions both in and out of football operations. I believe this progress has been mad as a result of the implementation of many of the enhances policies that were recently adopted.
The Commissioner and League Executives, as well as the Diversity Committee, remain committed to working with all clubs, the Fritz Pollard Alliance, and others in making these efforts as effective as possible and building upon them to promote the desired impacts on hiring decisions in the League at all levels, including Head Coaching positions.
Those changes to the rule that Rooney mentioned in the statement are the following, according to the NFL’s website:
1. Clubs must interview at least two diverse candidates from the Career Development Advisory Panel list, or a diverse candidate not currently employed by the club.
2. Clubs must conduct an in-person interview with at least one external minority candidate for any GM or head coaching interview.
3. Clubs must continue to consider multiple diverse candidates.
4. Clubs must maintain complete records and provide them to the league upon the Commissioner’s request.
5. If the final decision maker is involved from the beginning of the hiring process, they must be involved through the conclusion of the process.
As of now, Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin is the only minority coach Head Coach in the league.
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