The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White
The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White
The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

NFL’s Rooney Rule not necessary

By Daniel Royston
March 3, 2010
Pittsburg Steelers owner Dan Rooney was the pioneer of the rule that promoted racial fairness in the search for a head coach. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press (Gene J. Puskar)

One of the most frequently used, yet unknown, active policies in the NFL is the Rooney Rule.

The Rooney Rule was first established in 2003, by Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the current chairman of the league’s diversity committee and was then immediately enforced for the next off-season. The rule’s main objective is for all teams in the NFL to interview at least one minority coach while interviewing for the head coaching position. Though the rule has been around for seven years, it has yet to make a real impact on the league. The NFL should reconsider this policy as it barely provides any influence for a team’s head coaching search.

This developing policy may seem like a mandatory standard, but it ultimately has no influence on the methods of hiring a new head coach in the NFL. On the other hand, the Rooney Rule can serve as a wake-up call for the NFL expose its lack of minority coaches. Surprisingly, until 1989, the only minority head coach was hall of famer Fritz Pollard, an African-American that coached the Chicago Black Hawks in 1928. This team was only made up of African-American players compiled by Pollard. Since then, such coaches as Tony Dungy, Herman Edwards and Mike Tomlin have emerged as possible hall of famers.

Despite these successful black coaches, the Rooney Rule has incredibly limited influence. This off-season, the Rooney Rule served as an unnecessary and futile step as teams such as the redskins and Seahawks searched for new coaches.

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The minority head coaches interviewed already knew they were not going to be the new head coach of the team, but still followed through with an interview just so the team could satisfy the policy. So why conduct the interview when both sides know that the candidate will not get the job?
One reason that teams follow through with the procedures of the Rooney Rule is that they will be fined if $200,000 if they ignore the rule. In 2003, the Detroit Lions failed to comply with the Rooney Rule and were fined the amount when they hired Steve Mariucci. Even though the rule seems ethically just, it is ridiculous to fine a team almost a quarter-million dollars for choosing the best candidate immediately and not drawing out their interviewing process.

As of now, the Rooney Rule is a policy that could trickle over into other professional sports leagues. Despite trying to appeal to the minority coaches and giving everyone a chance to get the head coaching job, this policy is useless and ineffective. It merely forces teams to add a candidate that they will not likely choose. One possible solution? Remove this unnecessary policy.

Both teams had publicly named their primary head coaching candidate, but still had to go through the process of the Rooney Rule in order to get to their number one choice. In both of these instances, they hired their number one choice and the Rooney Rule made no difference. 

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