The NFL enacted several changes to the Rooney Rule at their owners meeting on Tuesday, and one of the men who "spearheaded diversity in the NFL is delighted that the league strengthened its mandate to diversify in the face of regression," according to Marcus Hayes of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Former Fritz Pollard Alliance Chair John Wooten said that he is "pleased that a scheme collapsed that would reward teams with better draft positions when they hired and retained minority head coaches." Wooten suggested rather than "giving a reward to the team that's receiving the new coach, give the reward to the team that developed them." Wooten has "always insisted that the pipeline needs to improve, and he expects it will, since teams must now interview at least one external minority candidate for coordinator positions." Wooten: "At all levels, there are minorities ready to kick down the doors in the NFL. Presidents, executive vice presidents, head coaches -- all levels. You have to cast a wide net" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/22).
Buccaneers' Byron Leftwich is just one of just two minority offensive coordinators in the NFLgetty images
TIME STANDS STILL: In Houston, Jerome Solomon writes while recognition that there is a problem is the "compulsory first step in any transformative process, the league made said admission decades ago." This "isn't an imaginary issue." Last year, there was only one black GM in the league -- the Dolphins' Chris Grier -- and there are "only two minority offensive coordinators in the NFL." Solomon: "The 'it’ll work itself out crowd' is delusional." NFL owners have "had a century to work it out and have chosen not to" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/22).
WORK TO DO: In Honolulu, Ferd Lewis writes this is the "third incarnation of the league's primary vehicle for boosting diversity in the managerial ranks" since '03. Lewis: "For all that time and all the self-congratulatory back-patting that the owners have engaged in over the years, shouldn't the nation's foremost pro sports league be a lot further along?" The problem "isn't the rule so much as the owners themselves." NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league "should and can do better." Lewis: "It has to start at the top with ownership" (HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, 5/22).
