In 2002, with the very real threat of litigation looming, the NFL addressed its abysmal minority hiring record by adopting the Rooney Rule. Fifteen years later, the rule named for the late Steelers chairman and Hall of Famer Dan Rooney is showing its age.
It started as a provision requiring at least one minority candidate to be interviewed for each head-coaching vacancy. It evolved to include General Managers and other high-level team executives. And it initially had razor-sharp teeth, with former Lions G.M. Matt Millen fined $500,000 for failure to comply with the rule when hiring coach Steve Mariucci, and with the league vigilant about closing loopholes, like the one the Cowboys exploited by conducting a perfunctory phone interview with Dennis Green before hiring Bill Parcells.
Now, it feels like the NFL is watching loopholes emerge, and shrugging at them. Apart from the curious failure of teams like the Jaguars and Chiefs to disclose the names of minority candidates interviewed to comply with the Rooney Rule earlier this year, the Panthers have now provided a clear blueprint for a stopgap, one-year G.M. hire that circumvents the Rooney Rule.
If a team decides after the draft (as teams sometimes do) to hire a new G.M. and the owner knows who he’ll hire, the owner can easily avoid an inclusive search by tapping the brakes until the eve of training camp, firing the G.M., and hiring the replacement on an “interim” basis. That’s quite possibly what Panthers owner Jerry Richardson did in bringing back Marty Hurney for a year; if so, it’s not like anyone will admit that.
Curiously, the Fritz Pollard Alliance has no issue with the league’s decision to allow the Panthers to hire a G.M. for an entire season without complying with the Rooney Rule. And it’s just the latest example of the group responsible for promoting the hiring of minorities getting along by going along instead of being a staunch and zealous defender of the letter and integrity of the Rooney Rule.
Whether because of improvements in minority hiring, a dramatically decreased threat of liability, or a national political climate arguably conducive to glossing over the seemingly clear requirements of hiring practices that promote diversity in an industry that hasn’t had nearly as much as it should over the decades, the rule that bears the name of Dan Rooney seems to be softening. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.