Rooney Rule inadequate tool
Litigation an option for lack of diversity among NFL coaches
For all of the noise, initiatives, committees, research reports and even various measures of progress, there’s still so much to be desired when it comes to equal opportunity for African Americans to become NFL head coaches.
Congratulations, Byron Leftwich. You called the plays for Tom Brady to help the Buccaneers win a Super Bowl, but you didn’t land a single interview for any of the top jobs that opened up this year.
Eric Bieniemy? You didn’t ask to become the poster image of what’s wrong with the hiring process in the NFL, it just happened that way. Three years, two Super Bowl appearances as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, 12 interviews, zero job offers to become a head coach. Many wonder why. Or why not.
Meanwhile, white candidates with lesser résumés — Brandon Staley (Chargers), Dan Campbell (Lions) and Nick Sirianni (Eagles) — have been granted opportunities to become the next Sean McVay . . . or the next Freddie Kitchens. It’s a snapshot we’ve seen before.
What gives? On top of the Rooney Rule requiring teams to interview multiple candidates of color for head-coach and generalmanager vacancies and myriad attempts from NFL headquarters to bolster opportunities in a league in which more than 70% of the players are Black, the optics of the reality remain disturbing.
For example, there were three Black coaches in the NFL when the Rooney Rule was established in 2003, and there are three in 2021. Maybe this is just a lawsuit waiting to happen. The courtroom might represent the next frontier on the NFL coaching-diversity front.
Think about it. Historically, nothing has moved the needle with NFL owners like taking them to court, which tends to open windows to greater transparency — and greater urgency.
Free agency, remember, wasn’t liberalized until a series of extended court battles culminated in 1993 with the settlement of Reggie White vs. NFL. Franchise moves? That he fought fellow owners during the 1980s to relocate the Raiders is essential to Al Davis’ legacy. In 2013, the $765 million concussion settlement changed the game for former players seeking benefits.
The Rooney Rule didn’t come about until attorneys Cyrus Mehri and the late Johnnie Cochran, armed with a study in 2002 that detailed patterns of inequality involving Black coaches, floated the idea of a class-action suit.
Long odds. That’s likely one key reason a discrimination case involving patterns of NFL inequalities has yet to wind up in court, with the last potential threat resulting in talks that led to the Rooney Rule.
‘‘They moved in that direction because of a presumption that legal action wouldn’t work,’’ N. Jeremi Duru, counsel for the Fritz Pollard Alliance, said this week during a panel discussion hosted by the Global Sport Institute (GSI) at Arizona State. ‘‘I think now is the time to reassess that presumption. Maybe it wouldn’t win in court, but maybe you have enough of a claim to get into court and force conversations and to force settlements.’’
GSI’s panel included Carl Douglas, who worked under Cochran on the O.J. Simpson defense team and is president of Douglas/Hicks Law; and Melissa Woods, a partner at Cohen Weiss and Simon who specializes in labor and employment law. In weighing the legal possibilities of an NFL diversity case, they seemed to agree that bringing individual cases against individual teams might stand a better chance than a case against the league at large.
After all, as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell repeatedly has expressed, the individual teams hire and fire as they see fit.
The legal experts pondered an essential question: Who would step up as a plaintiff in a discrimination case? Or as a sacrificial lamb? Colin Kaepernick launched the protest movement in the NFL in 2016 by taking a knee during the national anthem to make a statement against police brutality and systemic racism victimizing people of color, then later filed a collusion case against the NFL and essentially was blackballed.
‘‘That decision is a political one, as well, in terms of even threatening changes,’’ Douglas said. ‘‘And I doubt there is the political will in this environment.’’
Woods maintained legal challenges have to coincide with other forms of pressure, including heat on sponsors. You know, follow the money.
Then there are the players. The NFL Players Association is in the process of devising recommendations for the league on the issue, which will be on the agenda when the union holds its annual meeting next week. It’s debatable whether a more aggressive push from the NFLPA will make a difference.
Still, one thing is certain: Court case or not, this issue has legs.