Did Davis violate Rooney Rule?
Team could face fine after owner’s comments on Gruden prompt NFL probe
The NFL will “look into” the Raiders for a potential violation of the Rooney Rule, a league spokesman said via email on Thursday.
The Fritz Pollard Alliance, a group promoting minority hirings in the NFL, called Wednesday for the NFL to investigate the Raiders after owner Mark Davis’ comments Tuesday led the group to believe Davis may have violated the rule in hiring Jon Gruden as head coach.
The rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coach and general manager openings. Davis said Tuesday at Gruden’s introduction that he felt Gruden was “all in” on becoming Oakland’s head coach when the two met in Philadelphia on Dec. 24.
Gruden called the Raiders’ game in Philadelphia the next day for ESPN.
Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie said during Gruden’s introductory news conference that the team satisfied the Rooney Rule by interviewing Raiders tight ends coach Bobby Johnson and USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin.
On Wednesday, Fritz Pollard Alliance’s counsel issued the following statement:
“We are deeply concerned by
reports that the Oakland Raiders’ owner, Mark Davis, came to an agreement with Jon Gruden about him becoming the Raiders’ next head coach before interviewing any candidates of color,” the statement said. “If so, the Club violated the Rooney Rule, which was instituted by the NFL in 2003 and requires teams to interview at least one candidate of color for open head coaching and general manager positions.
“As soon as we learned of the reports, we formally requested that the NFL thoroughly investigate the matter to conclusively determine whether the Rooney Rule was violated — and if it was violated, to impose an appropriate punishment.”
Themeeting between Davis and Gruden happened exactly one week before Davis fired Jack Del Rio as coach following Oakland’s 30-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
If the league finds the Raiders violated the Rooney Rule, they might be subject to a hefty fine.
The NFL fined then-Detroit Lions GM Matt Millen $200,000 in 2003 after violating the rule in hiring Steve Mariucci as coach.
• The Raiders will play the Seahawks in London next season, NFL UK announced. The game will be played Oct. 14 at the English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium during Week 6.
The Raiders have played outside the U.S. in three of the last four seasons, losing twice— most recently 33-8 to New England in Mexico City.
The Raiders will be the “home” team.
The rest of the Raiders’ schedule will be released in mid-late April.
The other NFL games to be played in London next season will be Jacksonville vs. Philadelphia and the Chargers vs. Tennessee.
• Gruden reportedly has filled two more vacancies on his coaching staff with the additions of defensive-backs coach Derrick Ansley and running-backs coach Jemal Singleton.
Ansley, whose hiring was first reported on footballscoop.com, has been serving the same role at Al- abama. The hiring of Singleton, who had been running backs coach with the Indianapolis Colts, was reported by NFL Media.
In addition, the Raiders will interview Dave DeGugliemo for offensiveline coach, according to NFL Media. DeGuglielmo was most recently the line coach at Miami but also was Bill Belichick’s line coach in New England in 2014-15.
Mike Tice has been the Raiders line coach for the last three seasons.
Jim O’Neil, a former defensive coordinator for the 49ers and Browns, will interview for a position on the Raiders defensive staff, Adam Caplan reports.