The 49ers this week are telling staffers they will institute a Rooney Rule for women "for all business-side jobs," constituting about 75% of the team's positions and making them the "first NFL organization to formally announce adopting the initiative," according to Jane McManus of ESPNW.com. The team also will "apply the rule to people of color." The 49ers' Rooney Rule "won't apply to football-operations positions such as coaching or scouting." 49ers CEO Jed York said that the idea to adopt the rule came "from a discussion with his mother," 49ers co-Chair Denise DeBartolo York. They agreed that the practice "would reflect the diversity of the Bay area and would be an important statement about the principles guiding the franchise." 49ers General Counsel Hannah Gordon said that the team "wanted to concentrate on the business side so that they could execute it well." But she added that the goal "is to expand the policy over time" (ESPNW.com, 4/26). In S.F., Eric Branch notes the 49ers last year hired assistant athletic trainer Laura Schnettgoecke, the "first female athletic trainer in franchise history." GM Trent Baalke also "serves on the subcommittee of the NFL's minority coaching fellowship program" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/27).
MAKING IT COUNT: Baalke was named 49ers GM five years ago, and the CHRONICLE's Branch wrote there has "never been more scrutiny or criticism" of him. The NFL Draft is tomorrow, and the 49ers have won just six of their last 21 regular-season games, partly because "too many high-end draft picks have failed to meet expectations." In January, the day after the team fired coach Jim Tomsula, York "addressed Baalke's job status and suggested Baalke bore some responsibility for the franchise's nosedive." Still, Baalke's actions "suggest he plans to stick around through what figures to be a rebuilding project." His "inaction has made it clear he's counting on the 49ers substantial" '16 draft capital (12 picks) to "begin a turnaround." Branch: "He'll need a better draft performance for the strategy to work" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/24).
