Latest news with #RooneyRule
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rooney Remains Committed to Diversity Efforts, Not Backing Down to Anti-DEI Movement
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed in February that the NFL will continue its diversity efforts, despite the Trump administration's policies and companies dropping diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. 'We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League, and we're going to continue those efforts because we've not only convinced ourselves, I think we've proven to ourselves that it does make the NFL better,' Goodell told reporters at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. 'We're not in this because it's a trend to get into it or a trend to get out of it. Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent into the National Football League both on and off the field.' Advertisement Despite Goodell's statement that the league is committed to DEI programs, the league canceled the 2025 version of the accelerator program, which puts minority candidates in front of owners during the May meetings. This definitely raised eyebrows, but the NFL issued a statement last week stating that the program was stopped for a year in an effort to make it better next year. In a interview with Jarrett Bell of USA Today, Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II made it clear he's not backing off on fighting for diversity efforts, despite the anti-DEI movement. 'I realize that people are going to look at [the cancellation of the 2025 accelerator program] and say, 'These people are backing off,'' Rooney told Bell. 'That's not going to happen. There's nothing I can really do about that perception, except to say that we're still not satisfied with where we are, and we recognize that we still have work to do.' Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II during a press conference to announce the hosting of the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrsiure Stadium on May 24, 2025. — Alan Saunders / Steelers Now Despite negative publicity, Goodell believes the Rooney Rule is still an effective process for hiring candidates. The Rooney Rule, which was created by the league in 2003, requires clubs to interview minority or female candidates for open head coach, general manager, coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and senior level positions. Advertisement 'There's no requirement to hire a particular individual on the basis of race or gender,' Goodell said in February. 'It's simply on the basis of looking at a canvas of candidates that reflect our communities and to look at the kind of talent that exists there, and then you make the best decision on who is hired. 'There are no quotas in our system. This is about opening that funnel and bringing the best talent into the NFL.' Former Steelers free safety Ryan Clark thinks the Rooney Rule has become a complete joke. That was made evident with the New England Patriots bringing in Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich for interviews, only to hire Mike Vrabel days later. Hamilton and Leftwich were just used to meet a quota. 'I think this kind of puts a light on the Rooney Rule, which, to me, the New England Patriots made a mockery of,' Clark said on Inside the NFL. 'To interview Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich, two coaches who aren't even in football right now, just to fulfill a quota. The Rooney Rule was put in place, so some of these minority coaches could get opportunities to get in front of some of the executives and some of these owners, that truly were looking to give the job to the best person. Advertisement 'Now, I want to make it clear: I believe we have moved to a point where organizations will hire the best person they feel for the job. But let's not make coaches, who have worked their entire lives for this opportunity, be the token interview.' Clark added on X that NFL teams are entitled to hire who they feel is best for the coaching job. He also believes Vrabel is the right person for the job, but the hiring practices need to be fixed by the NFL. 'It's time to create better resume & career building opportunities for minority to combat nepotism,' Clark wrote. 'The entire football world knew Jerod Mayo was fired so Robert Kraft could hire Mike Vrabel. Vrabel is an excellent choice, but the hiring process made a complete mockery of the Rooney Rule. I know it, the Patriots know it, the NFL certainly knows… but more importantly the very coaches it was intended to help know it. I don't believe the Patriots need to change, but the NFL needs to.' The Rooney Rule was implemented in good faith, but it's been often criticized over the last 20 years. As Clark mentioned, a lot of Black coaches have felt like they were just a token interview or a checking-a-box requirement for owners. Advertisement The number of Black head coaches was two when the Rooney Rule was implemented in 2003. There are five Black head coaches heading into the 2025 season — the Steelers' Mike Tomlin, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Todd Bowles, the Houston Texans' DeMeco Ryans, the Atlanta Falcons' Raheem Morris and the New York Jets' Aaron Glenn. The Miami Dolphins' Mike McDaniel identifies as biracial and the Carolina Panthers' Dave Canales is Hispanic. This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Rooney Remains Committed to Diversity Efforts, Not Backing Down to Anti-DEI Movement
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
NFL urged to troll Donald Trump by doubling down on controversial policy
The NFL has been urged to send a message to Donald Trump by doubling down on DEI efforts amid the president's opposition to the initiatives. Trump did not waste any time in trying to restrict DEI after returning to the White House back in January, issuing a series of executive orders to eliminate it during his first week in office after branding it a form of 'discrimination.' NFL officials have been committed to enforcing DEI initiatives over the years, having introduced the controversial Rooney Rule - which requires teams to interview minority candidates for their top openings - back in 2003 albeit to an underwhelming effect, with a number of teams accused of holding sham interviews simply to tick a box. In recent years the league has held a coaching accelerator program - allowing minority coaching talent to spend time with team owners in more relaxed settings ahead of potential future openings - in conjunction with its spring meetings as a possible improvement on the Rooney Rule. However, as Trump continues to wage his war on DEI, the NFL has opted to pause its accelerator program until May 2026 while making a number of changes to it. USA Today's Jarrett Bell has been left furious by that decision, calling on commissioner Roger Goodell and team owners to push back at the president and double down on DEI efforts rather than shelve them for the next year. 'President Donald Trump's administration has waged an all-out war on DEI. More than 30 states have passed or introduced legislation that eliminates or restricts DEI initiatives,' Bell wrote in his latest column for the publication. 'So many companies in corporate America have buckled and rolled back DEI commitments. Now is the perfect time for the socially-conscious NFL to keep its accelerator program front and center (even with tweaks) as a clear statement that doubles down on its DEI pledge. 'Instead, it seems like the USA's most dominant sports league is backpedaling.' Bell went on to add: 'In this political climate, it's hardly a stretch to think that the NFL, which typically strategizes and messages in textbook fashion, isn't putting up its guard to lessen the risk that it could become a huge target for Trump's anti-DEI message. 'Isn't some of that a factor in the NFL's decision to pause its accelerator program?' The latest event in the coaching accelerator program, which began in 2022, was scheduled to have coaching candidates of diverse backgrounds meet with team owners at league meetings next week in Minnesota. Yet NFL chief administrative officer Dasha Smith revealed this week that the program will return in 2026 in order to make it more successful. 'This will allow us to reimagine the program, reflecting on the feedback and engaging with stakeholders so we can ensure a successful program in the future,' she said in a statement Tuesday. 'We're steadfast in our commitment to strengthen our talent pipeline and create an environment that reflects the diversity of our fan base. The NFL strives to be a unifying force, and we are confident the next evolution of our efforts will take us one step closer to that goal.' DEI laws and measures had been under attack for years by Republicans who believe they threaten merit-based hiring, promotion and educational opportunities of white people, specifically white men. Some Asian Americans also argue DEI unfairly limits opportunities for students and workers, while certain members of the black community claim it undermines years of progress. Supporters of the programs, meanwhile, are adamant that they are necessary to ensure institutions meet the needs of increasingly diverse populations. In the wake of the decision to pause the accelerator program, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones admitted recent Supreme Court rulings on DEI and Trump's opposition to it played a factor. 'The emphasis the president puts on it just makes us all aware and thinking about it,' Jones said, via CBS. For the first time in four years, the NFL controversially removed its long-running 'end racism' message from end zones at last season's Super Bowl, instead opting for 'Choose Love' and 'It Takes All of Us' to be shown at Caesars Superdome. Despite axing that message from football's end-of-season showpiece, league commissioner Roger Goodell insisted they were by no means backtracking from DEI initiatives. 'We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League, and we're going to continue those efforts because we're not only convinced ourselves, I think we've proven ourselves that it does make the NFL better,' Goodell said. 'We're not in this because it's a trend to get into or a trend to get out of it,' he continued. 'Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent into the National Football League both on and off the field, as I've said previously.
Boston Globe
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The NFL's diversity initiatives are taking a backseat, and what else to know ahead of owners meetings
Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL's medical experts are heavily in favor of banning the Tush Push and pushing plays, making it likely it gets the 24 owner votes to pass. Advertisement The owners also will vote on whether to discontinue the practice of awarding an automatic home playoff game to division winners. Owners have long prioritized division championships, but Goodell is in favor of changing the system to a pure ranking by record. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The owners likely will debate changes to the onside kick, which has reached a historically low rate of recovery (about 5 percent). And the owners will vote on whether to allow active players to participate in the 2028 Olympics flag football competition. The rules would permit only a few players from each team to participate. But the meeting may be just as notable for what is not taking place — the NFL's 'head coach accelerator' diversity initiative, which was surprisingly canceled last week. Since 2022 the NFL had been holding accelerators for minority GM and head coaching candidates to introduce owners to a more diverse group of candidates to improve the league's poor record of minority football hires. The NFL said it will reboot the program in 2026. Advertisement 'This will allow us to reimagine the program, reflecting on the feedback and engaging with stakeholders so we can ensure a successful program in the future,' NFL chief administrative officer Dasha Smith said. Left unsaid is that the NFL owners didn't take the accelerator program too seriously — several owners (including the Patriots') skipped the networking events over the years, and rarely hired any of the minority candidates. Canceling the program also comes in the wake of President Trump's war on diversity. And it happened just days after Goodell and the NFL puckered up to Trump, allowing him to announce The NFL says it remains committed to the Rooney Rule and other diversity initiatives. Its actions will speak louder. Ben Volin can be reached at
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
With 2027 NFL draft set for DC, will Trump push league to abandon diversity rule?
As Trump attacks diversity and seeks to dismantle organizations that promote it, I ask one simple question. Will Trump require the NFL to abandon the Rooney Rule if they want the draft in the D.C. area? (Editor's note: The NFL's Rooney Rule, adopted in 2003, requires teams to interview one minority candidate for the QB coach position, and at least two minority candidates for vacant head coach, GM and coordinator positions.) Paul Sherzer Livonia More from Freep Opinion: Trump's crypto, the Qatar jet ― will supporters finally admit something's wrong? It is incredibly disappointing to see Republicans in Congress negotiating legislation that would cut Medicaid for millions of Americans while seeking to expand funding for the inhumane immigration policies of this presidency. We do not need to spend billions of dollars to tear immigrants, the vast majority of whom have committed no civil or violent crimes, from our communities and send them to a foreign gulag, all while shredding the U.S. Constitution in the process. By choosing to cut Medicaid to spend billions on harmful mass deportations, our politicians issue a terrible double blow to our healthcare infrastructure — families will lose health coverage and we will lose immigrant health workers. Medicaid finances 41% of births in this country and helps many working Michiganders pay for nursing care and elder care and allows rural hospitals to stay afloat. These cruel policies will harm thousands of Michiganders, and make our communities more vulnerable. Cassandra Williams Farmington More from Freep Opinion: Ghost of Brooks Patterson and specter of Donald Trump collide in Oakland County If you have been searching for some of that $1.89 gas the president has been bragging about — forget it. Per GasBuddy, statewide it is a mirage. Anyone who drives a car knows those numbers are wildly wrong. How is it that this man thinks we can't read gas pump signs? His deviations from reality are not new — factcheckers have found that President Donald Trump has made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims in his first and second terms. The Washington Post documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term. One theory proposed is that by rapidly flooding us with distorted facts and figures, we won't be able to keep up, and will not be alarmed by any one event. The one event may be heavy cuts to Medicaid. We did not vote for these kind of mind games. We must continue to implore the U.S. Congress to intervene and return sanity to our government. Randy Parmec Redford Submit a letter to the editor at and we may publish it online and in print. If you have a differing view from a letter writer, please feel free to submit a letter of your own in response. Like what you're reading? Please consider supporting local journalism and getting unlimited digital access with a Detroit Free Press subscription. We depend on readers like you. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump, price of gas, Medicaid cuts, NFL draft, Rooney Rule | Letters
Mint
13-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
NFL cancels accelerator program, aims to revamp for May 2026
The NFL has canceled its accelerator program, designed to promote diversity hiring practices for head coaches and front office positions, citing a need for improvements. The next accelerator event, which connects individuals of diverse backgrounds with owners and team executives, was scheduled to take place next week in Minnesota. According to reports, league officials determined that the program needed a revamp to improve effectiveness. "Every offseason, we take a step back to reflect on the positives and areas for improvement of our programs and assess ways to make them more impactful," Dasha Smith, NFL executive vice president and chief administrative officer, said in a statement. "This year, we assessed and identified additional opportunities with the Accelerator -- including combining the coaching and front office programs to ensure the Accelerator continues to be as impactful as possible." Smith noted that the next accelerator event would take place in May 2026, which "will allow us to reimagine the program, reflecting on the feedback and engaging with stakeholders so we can ensure a successful program in the future." League officials emphasized that the cancellation does not mean it will end the NFL's commitment to diversity. Rather, it allows the league to strengthen its efforts to ensure that everyone receives fair opportunities. "We're steadfast in our commitment to strengthen our talent pipeline and create an environment that reflects the diversity of our fan base," Smith said. "The NFL strives to be a unifying force, and we are confident the next evolution of our efforts will take us one step closer to that goal." The NFL began holding accelerator events at its spring meetings starting in 2022 after league officials perceived that owners were passing over highly qualified individuals of color for vacant positions. The NFL also has the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minorities for open general manager, head coaching and coordinator positions. So far, however, just two individuals have landed jobs as a result of the accelerator program: Ran Carthon (Tennessee Titans general manager, fired in 2024) and Aaron Glenn (current New York Jets head coach).
