NFL says all teams must add minority offensive coach, expands Rooney Rule to include women

The league will hire a minority offensive assistant coach for the 2022 season as part of a series of policy enhancements announced Monday.

According to the policy adopted by the owners during their annual meeting, the coach can be a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority, and will be paid from a league-wide fund. The coach needs to work closely with the head coach and the offensive staff in order to increase minority participation in the pool of offensive coaches that eventually produces the most sought-after candidates for head coach positions.

Art Rooney II, the chairman of the NFL diversity, equity and inclusion committee, said that at the moment, the coordinators are the stepping stones for a head coach.

Dasha Smith said that some teams already have a coach or coaches in similar assistant roles which will count towards the program. The Rooney Rule, named after Art Rooney's father and designed to elevate minority hiring at all levels of the league, requires all teams to hire.

There has been progress in some areas, most notably with general managers and defensive coordinators, but there are only five minority head coaches in the league. The league fell short of its goals during the head coach hiring cycle, and will work harder this year.

The league also has an offensive assistant coach mandate.

The language of the Rooney Rule was added to include women. The requirement to interview two external minorities for top positions, including head coach, can now be met by women and people of color. Women are not required to be interviewed, but they are now included in the fulfillment process. It is possible that a team could interview two white women for an open head coach position to satisfy the Rooney Rule, and then make a hire without ever interviewing a person of color. Rooney said that it is unlikely.

Rooney said that there aren't many women in the pool in terms of head coach. We can address that as time goes on, but for now we don't see that as an issue.

We are looking at the early stages of women entering the coaching ranks, so we may be a little ways away before that becomes a problem.

The mission statement was made public to encourage and attract diverse members of prospective ownership groups. If the group includes diverse individuals who would have a significant equity stake in and involvement with the club, including serving as the controlling owner, the membership will regard it as a positive and meaningful factor.

There is no requirement for minority participation in ownership groups. The Denver Broncos will be the first case. Interested investors are being evaluated for the sale process. Rooney believed that several groups had minority participation.

The Diversity Advisory Committee is part of the pledge to invite outside experts to evaluate the league's diversity. Rick Smith was the general manager of the Houston Texans. Peter Harvey, the former New Jersey attorney general, and Pamela Carlton, the founder and president of Springboard, are also included.

Dasha Smith said the Rooney Rule is still effective in multiple areas despite the possibility of eliminating it entirely.

She said that it has been helpful to the diversity efforts.

According to league data, a league-record 15 minorities are among the NFL's defensive coordinators. Minority coaches now make up 39% of the total, up from 35% in the previous year. A league-record 12 women are on coaching staffs.