Florida’s AG and the NFL Are Trying to Limit Head Coaching/Front Office Jobs to White Men
The Rooney Rule and the Accelerator program were created to help Black and minority candidates — not anymore.
By Carron J. Phillips
Equality is established when everyone receives the same support. Equity occurs when support is regulated based on need. Justice is a practice that removes barriers to grant equal opportunity. Obstructionists hate them all.
The NFL is assessing a letter sent from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier demanding that the league get rid of the Rooney Rule because the state stands against diversity hiring practices. “The Rooney Rule and its offshoots are illegal in Florida,” Uthmeier wrote. “Therefore, please confirm no later than May 1, 2026, that the NFL will no longer enforce the Rooney Rule or any variation or extension thereof — which requires consideration of race, sex, or any other prohibited classification — on teams in Florida. Failure to provide such confirmation may result in a civil rights enforcement action.”
The Rooney Rule was established in 2003 and named after the late Dan Rooney, who was the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, in an effort to address the lack of minority head coaches. Under the rule, franchises are required to interview at least one minority candidate for vacancies. “We are reviewing the letter,” NFL executive V.P. Jeff Miller wrote in a statement. “We believe our policies are consistent with the law and reflect our commitment to fairness, opportunity, and building the strongest possible teams.”
Of the 32 franchises in the NFL, there are only four Black general managers, three Black head coaches, and one Black offensive coordinator in a league that is majority Black. Los Angeles Chargers offensive coach Mike McDaniel does not count because he has identified his race as a “human being” with a “Black dad.” The Rooney Rule only requires that teams interview non-white candidates; it doesn’t force them to make hires. And though the rule still applies in theory, it actually died in 2018. Eight years ago, when the Oakland Raiders hired Jon Gruden to be head coach, team owner Mark Davis eventually admitted that he got Gruden to agree to the job before firing then-head coach Mark Del Rio, apparently making the Raiders’ interviews with minority candidates just for show. The team hired Mike Mayock, a draft analyst for NFL Network, as general manager.
Davis, Gruden, and Mayock are all white men.
In the NFL’s most recent coaching cycle, there were 10 head coaching vacancies. Not a single Black candidate was hired.
The league’s history with these matters is why it continuously finds itself in sticky situations and legal battles. More than four years ago, former Miami Dolphins head coach and current Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores sued the league and the Dolphins, New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals, and Tennessee Titans for alleged racial hiring practices. Though the case has moved slowly through the legal process, the league and the teams have failed in trying to move the case to private arbitration.
Flores’s ties to a franchise that operates in the state in which Uthmeier is the attorney general isn’t a coincidence, especially because the league recently made a decision that will help white candidates land positions even more than they do now.
A few weeks ago, the league announced that its “Front Office and Coaching Accelerator Program” would be returning after a 12-month hiatus. However, what was created to locate, identify, and help advance diverse talent is now amended to include white men. “The Accelerator still has the overriding goal of supporting the advancement of underrepresented football talent,” NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane said.
“There was a lot of discussion, got a lot of feedback,” Beane added. “And when I spoke to GMs, head coaches, owners, participants, past participants, and I think there was an abundance of support for having a program that’s inclusive of all talent.”
The irony is that Beane is Black. And despite how shocking that may be to some after reading his words, you have to understand that this is a league of contradiction. For instance, the NFL has a diversity coaching fellowship named in honor of Bill Walsh — a white man.
As the old African American proverb goes, “We can’t have nothing.”
The attack on diversity programs in this country’s favorite sports league is a perfect snapshot of America. In the same way that Black and Brown faces were not the biggest beneficiaries from affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives (white women were), the revamped measure from the NFL is destined to follow suit and produce the same outcome — even more mediocre white men in positions of power.
Some will read this and believe it’s something that’s being unnecessarily viewed under the guise of race. At their core, the Accelerator program and the Rooney Rule were built to help diverse candidates. It has not sustainably accomplished that goal. But instead of working harder, the people who built it want to give up.
“There’s no question that the environment has changed in recent years,” Art Rooney, son of Dan Rooney, recently told ESPN. “We do have an obligation to make sure that our policies comply with the laws, whatever the law is, and whatever the changes in law might be. We’ve got to look at that and make sure we’re in compliance. . . . That’s just the environment we’re existing in today.”
Football isn’t the game that the NFL has mastered — baiting and switching is. Compare what Rooney is saying now to what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in February at the Super Bowl.
“I think the Rooney Rule has been seen as a positive by our clubs, by giving them an opportunity to look at a diverse set of candidates,” said the commissioner of a league that has an affinity for saying one thing but doing another. “They (team owners) make the choice ultimately. But I think it’s shown them the value of that, to look at talent where you might not know it and may not see it.”
The raw data and lack of Black and Brown faces in positions of leadership in the NFL speak for themselves. And when you operate in a country in which millions continue to ignore facts and figures that oppose their agenda, it’s an indicator of an attempt to distort reality. A lot of this is about race. But, at its core, like most of the things that are fueled by this current administration, is the consistent moving of the goal posts and the unapologetic nature of how the idea of fairness, merit, and a balanced playing field are things one side clearly doesn’t believe in, let alone desire.
Two NFL systems that were supposed to help even the scales have now given white men an even greater advantage than they already have. That’s not needlessly seeing things as racial. It’s highlighting how racism evolves.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University. Follow his personal Substack to keep up with more of his work.