The problem with hiring as it relates to race in the NFL is not the Rooney Rule. The problem is not that the Rooney Rule is ineffective. That would be like saying that the problem with cancer is that you can't fix it with an aspirin. That is not about the limitations of aspirin, that's about the problem with cancer; and the NFL has a cancer of racism when it comes to hiring people at these levels.
"I think we have become a more diverse league across every platform including coaching, but we still have more work to do," Goodell said. "There's got to be more steps. We're reevaluating everything we're doing, including the accelerator program, including every aspect of our policies in our program to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow rather than yesterday. We need to be looking at that and why did we have those results this year?"
The Rooney Rule requires NFL teams interviewing new head coaches or general managers to interview at least two minority candidates. The interviews must be in-person to satisfy the Rooney Rule, but Atlanta has publicly disclosed which of its interviews were virtual or in-person. Based on Jones' report, at least two of their minority candidates must have conducted their first interview in person.
Atlanta is expected to hire Matt Ryan as its president of football operations, but the team is required to interview other candidates for the role first. That may include 49ers director, scouting and football operations Josh Williams. The Falcons have requested a meeting with Williams, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. The Falcons are the second team to show interest in the 38-year-old Williams since the regular season ended Sunday.
So now we have another candidate in the mix in the form of Josh Williams, a longtime scout with the San Francisco 49ers who has spent the past two seasons as their director of scouting and football operations; he's spent 14 years with the 49ers overall and began his career in the organization when Jim Harbaugh was running the show.
MLS's version of the Rooney Rule -- a name borrowed from the NFL's minority hiring initiative -- was first implemented in 2007, and was then updated with much fanfare in 2021. It's intention was to give more opportunities to minority candidates to interview for technical positions with the league's teams, including GMs, assistant GMs, managers and assistant coaches. That exposure, it was hoped, would lead to more minority hires.
Nuno Espirito Santo says it is a "privilege" and he is "honoured" to be the only black manager currently in charge of a Premier League team. The West Ham boss, who rejects the idea that his position could be a burden, is also confident that it will not be long before the situation changes. "I think there are a lot of black managers with talent that can soon be involved in the Premier League. "Many [black coaches] are going to have good seasons, they're going to be available," the Portuguese told BBC Sport Africa, admitting he feels an element of "luck" has led to his success.
