Fewer minority candidates became head coaches
The NFL expanded the Rooney Rule to give more minority candidates opportunities to become a head coach and reward teams who develop them.
More interviews didn’t equal more hirings this offseason.
According to an analysis of candidates known to have interviewed for seven head coach openings this month, 11 were minorities and 16 were white. Only two of the seven jobs went to minorities.
Some consider it progress but most agree there’s a long way to go.
“There’s still work to be done in this area, no question about it,” Pittsburgh Steelers team president Art Rooney II said Thursday.
The Houston Texans hired David Culley this week, making the 65-yearold longtime assistant the league’s third Black head coach hired. The New York Jets previously hired Robert Saleh, the son of Lebanese immigrants and the first NFL head coach who is known to be Muslim.
Culley and Saleh join Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Miami’s Brian Flores and Washington’s Ron Rivera as the league’s only minority head coaches. In a sport where about 70 percent of the players are minorities, the lack of diversity among the head coaches sticks out.
Rooney said the league will take another look at the rule named after his father, Dan Rooney, who was chairman of the NFL’s diversity committee.
“We didn’t make as much progress on the head coaching side as we would have liked,” Rooney said. “But I would say we did make some progress on the general manager side, which is encouraging. And then we’ll have to look on the coordinator side to see how much progress we make on that front.
“There are a lot of pieces to it that we’re going to have to sit down when it’s all said and done and really analyze what happened, and are there things we can do to strengthen the opportunities for minority coaches. I think last year we did take a number of steps that I think over time are going to pay dividends, but that’s not to say we can’t do more, and we’ll take another strong look at it this offseason.”
Two of the seven vacancies for general manager were filled by minorities when the Atlanta Falcons hired Terry Fontenot and the Detroit Lions tabbed Brad Holmes. They join Cleveland’s Andrew Berry and Miami’s Chris Grier as the only Black GMs in the league.
Lions hire 4 for coaching staff
The Detroit Lions added Duce Staley, Mark Brunell, Mark DeLeone and Dom Capers to their coaching staff.
Staley joins new coach Dan Campbell’s staff as running backs coach and assistant head coach. Brunell will be the team’s quarterbacks coach, and
DeLeone will coach inside linebackers. Capers was hired as a senior defensive assistant.
Odds and ends
The Green Bay Packers fired defensive coordinator Mike Pettine and special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga. …
The Seattle Seahawks have hired Shane Waldron as their new offensive coordinator. …
Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel named Todd Downing as offensive coodinator and Shane Bowen as defensive coordinator.