Why The NFL Isn’t Hiring Black Coaches

The league pioneered a key diversity hiring tactic called the Rooney Rule, but that hasn’t changed how team owners hire.

The NFL’s key strategy for hiring more minority coaches isn’t working ― not a great sign for the many companies that have adopted the league’s method in an effort to hire more women and minority employees.

Heading into the conference championships this weekend, there were just three Black head coaches among the NFL’s 32 teams as of Wednesday. The number is down from a high of eight in 2018, and it’s back to what it was before the NFL ― under threat of a discrimination lawsuit ― adopted the Rooney Rule in 2003. The rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any open head coach position.

Even more stark: Over the last three years, there were 20 open head coach positions in the NFL. Only two were filled by Black coaches. The most recent hiring season just wrapped up. Of five openings, just one minority candidate landed a head coach role: Ron Rivera, who was hired by Washington’s football team.

Meanwhile, 70% of players and 34% percent of assistant coaches are nonwhite. And those assistant coaches are despondent, said Jim Trotter, a reporter at NFL Media who’s been talking to many of them.

“It’s just sad,” said Trotter, who’s covered the NFL for nearly 25 years. “It’s tough to hear a man say there’s a sense of hopelessness out there. No matter how good you are. How hard you work. Those opportunities may not be there for you.”

The NFL’s poor diversity numbers among top coaches reveal the sharp limitations of the Rooney Rule and should serve as a warning sign for any company that thinks checking this interviewing box takes care of diversity.

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About the Author: DrStefanieKJohnson

Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Management at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. She holds a Ph.D. from Rice University and is particularly interested in the effects of unconscious biases in the evaluation of women and minorities, with the goal of finding ways to mitigate those biases. Dr. Johnson brings bias to light with an engaging and humorous approach to advanced scientific research, which has earned her numerous accolades and invitations to present her work at meetings around the world, including the White House for a 2016 summit on diversity in corporate America on National Equal Pay Day, and the 2016 Harvard Negotiation and Leadership Conference. She has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters in outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Applied Psychology and The Academy of Management Journal. She has extensive consulting experience and has created and delivered leadership-development training with an emphasis on evidence-based practice. In recognition of her unique research, Dr. Johnson has been awarded nearly three million dollars in external funding to study leadership and create leadership development programs aimed at increasing safety. Media outlets featuring her work include: The Economist, Newsweek, Time, and CNN. Stefanie lives in the Boulder Bubble in Colorado with her Biology Professor husband, two young kiddos, and two old kitties.