Raiders may have violated NFL’s ‘Rooney Rule’
The NFL says it will investigate whether the Oakland Raiders violated the “Rooney Rule” when they hired Jon Gruden as coach.
Spokesman Brian McCarthy said Thursday in a statement that the NFL will “look into this.” The Fritz Pollard Alliance called for the investigation on Wednesday out of concern that Raiders owner Mark Davis came to an agreement with Gruden before the team interviewed any minority candidates as required by the NFL since 2003.
Davis said Tuesday after the introductory news conference that he believed that Gruden was “all in” to take the job during a meeting Dec. 24.
Davis fired Jack Del Rio a week later and the team hired Gruden on Jan. 6 after the team interviewed two minority candidates.
HERNANDEZ STORY ON ‘48 HOURS’: Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez’s life and death will be the subject of a one-hour special episode of “48 Hours” to be broadcast on Jan. 20.
The CBS program will be told by bestselling author James Patterson, who is writing a book about Hernandez.
Once one of the top players in the NFL, Hernandez was convicted for the murder of Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée. Hernandez hanged himself at the age of 27 in the Massachusetts prison cell where he was serving a life sentence. After his death, he was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can cause depression and violent mood swings.
Patterson calls it “the most fascinating, complicated and troubling crime story of our times.” The book “All-American Murder” is due out Jan. 22.
NORV TO PANTHERS: The Carolina Panthers will hire Norv Turner as their offensive coordinator, a source told the Charlotte Observer on Thursday evening.
Turner’s son Scott will also be hired as the team’s quarterbacks coach. On Monday, the Panthers announced that they had fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey, both of whom had been in their respective positions since 2013. —AP