It’s been nearly a year since former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed his racial discrimination lawsuit against the National Football League, and sources around the league are tense that another hiring cycle could come and go with few — if any — Black men filling vacant head-coaching roles.
The NFL currently has five open head-coaching positions and it’s likely to stay that way without a surprise firing or retirement after this weekend. Last year the league saw just three of its 10 open jobs go to men of color. And since the start of the 2012 regular season, 80 percent of all available head-coaching jobs have gone to white men.
Despite the league’s efforts to strengthen and promote the pipeline of diverse coaching talent and improve the Rooney Rule, many around the league are questioning whether the NFL is headed for another poor showing in the coming days when the first hires are likely to be made.
An agent who represents coaches and executives told CBS Sports one NFL team trying to fill a high-ranking position said it had done deep dives on only half the candidates for whom they requested to interview, making the agent wonder if some of the interviewees were box-checks.
In an effort to bolster diversity in high-ranking positions, the NFL now requires teams to interview two external minority candidates during the search process. But the further requirement has made some around the league wonder whether their interview is legitimate.
“Is it Rooney?” a different agent asked when weighing whether to allow his client to take an interview for a high-ranking vacant position.
One head coach looking to fill a vacant coaching position told CBS Sports he spent part of a day this past week assuring the minority candidates on his list that the interest was legitimate and the interviews could be taken seriously.
“These are viable candidates,” the head coach stressed.
A lack of diversity at the league’s top positions has long been an issue for the NFL and, more specifically, of NFL team owners. The league has seen an increase in team presidents and general managers (both at eight, an all-time NFL high), but team owners have shown a resistance to hiring Black men as their head coaches.
A report this week from USA Today revealed that, since 2003, just four men have made up nearly a quarter of all publicly reported non-white interviews for head-coaching jobs. Kansas…
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