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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NFL Credited With Creating More Inclusive Job Landscape Following Joseph, Lynn Hirings

The NFL can "take a bow for its efforts to create a more inclusive hiring landscape," as the Broncos and Chargers hired their first African-American coaches with Vance Joseph and Anthony Lynn, according to Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY. This is how it is "supposed to work." Two hard-working coaches who have "earned respect as they paid their dues climbing the ladder are given chances ... to survive on the hottest seats in the league." With Joseph and Lynn added, there is a "record number" of combined minority coaches and GMs. Fritz Pollard Alliance Chair John Wooten said, "I'm very pleased with the whole process." Bell noted the hires come on the heels of a memo that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent to teams in late December that "outlined 'best practices' that included not stopping at just one minority candidate to interview." Goodell also "suggested that teams employ the spirit of the Rooney Rule for coordinator openings, too." It appears that the half-dozen teams that had coaching vacancies "followed the directives, leading to a continuation of the pattern in recent years of more candidates overall -- including whites -- having opportunities to interview" (USATODAY.com, 1/18). In N.Y., Ebenezer Samuel wrote this is "progress toward diversity and equality, even if it's still happening at a snail's pace." While neither Joseph nor Lynn "wants a coaching career defined by the start, they understand that they are pioneers" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/17).

PLAYING BY THE RULES? PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wondered whether the Jaguars complied with the Rooney Rule "before hiring" Tom Coughlin as their Exec VP/Football Operations. NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy said, "They complied with the rule. Clubs do not have to publicly disclose names of candidates they interviewed." But Florio noted one of the primary purposes of the Rooney Rule is to "inject into the public domain minority candidates who could be considered for similar positions elsewhere." Complicating the situation is the "fact that it wasn’t even known that the Jaguars were filling the job." Thus, qualified candidates, minority and otherwise, "arguably didn’t even know that there was a job to seek" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 1/18).

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