How impactful will the Rooney Rule changes be for future NFL coaches?

The latest additions to the Rooney Rule could help with the disparity between coaches of color and White QB coaches, offensive coordinators, and even head coaches.

The NFL has been on a torrid pace in recent years in terms of amending its Rooney Rule and overall hiring practices.

First, it was expanding the rule in terms of hiring coordinators in 2020, then last year by mandating that two minority candidates must be interviewed for head coaching vacancies.

In this offseason alone, the NFL kept the amendments going by adding women to the pool of diverse candidates who must be interviewed for offensive assistant positions. But this week also saw the league add these practices to the hiring of quarterback coaches as well.

This is a historic move on several fronts. For starters, the Rooney Rule has been criticized over the years despite its intent to bring more diverse candidates into the fold for coaching hires and front-office roles.

The data has yet to bode well in diversifying the head coaching roles in the league, but what gets missed in that is just how poorly it’s helped with diverse QB coaches and offensive coordinators too.

Going into the 2022 NFL season, there are only four QB coaches of color — Charles London (Falcons), Pep Hamilton (Texans/offensive coordinator), Ronald Curry (Saints), and Brian Johnson (Eagles).

As for OCs, that number is also four with Hamilton, Marcus Brady (Colts), Eric Bieniemy (Chiefs), and Byron Leftwich (Buccaneers).

And although the 2021 NFL season saw a record 12 women hold assistant coaching roles, there are still none who have been elevated to a lead position coach role, let alone a coordinator spot.

So when you look at those numbers, it makes sense why the latest rule changes came about. Also, of the 32 current NFL head coaches, 16 have served as an NFL QBs coach or OC.

And there are a few exceptions as well, with Matt Rhule, who was once a QB coach and OC in the college ranks, as well as Kliff Kingsbury and Brandon Staley, who are former NFL and college quarterbacks, respectively.

The QB coaches and OCs are the most direct pipeline into landing an NFL head-coaching gig. Of the nine head-coaching hires in 2022, six of them previously served as QB coaches and/or OCs — Brian Daboll (Giants), Nathaniel Hackett (Broncos), Mike McDaniel (Dolphins), Josh McDaniels (Raiders), Kevin O’Connell (Vikings), and Doug Pederson (Jaguars).

And of the new head-coaching adds, only McDaniel, Todd Bowles (Buccaneers), and Lovie Smith (Texans) were diverse hires in this cycle, bringing the NFL’s total for head coaches of color to six alongside Mike Tomlin (Steelers), Robert Saleh (Jets), and Ron Rivera (Commanders).

Some may try to dissuade this issue, but it’s hard not to acknowledge it as a problem when you consider the NFL’s players are 71% Black, and there is still a void with no Black owners in the league. Kim Pegula (Bills/co-owner) and Shahid Khan (Jaguars) remain the league’s only owners of color.

Pegula is joined by Virginia Halas McCaskey (Bears), Dee Haslam (Browns), Norma Hunt (Chiefs) Sheila Ford Hamp (Lions), Gayle Benson (Saints), Denise DeBartolo York (49ers), Jody Allen (Seahawks), Amy Adams Strunk (Titans), Janice McNair (Texans), Carol Davis (Raiders) and Darcie Glazer Kassewitz (Buccaneers), as the only women to serve as co-, partial-, or majority-stake NFL owners.

Pegula, Khan, and the Vikings’ Zygi Wilf are also the only foreign-born owners in the league.

Going back to the QB coach discussion, there is no brighter spotlight in sports than that which comes with the quarterback position.

The visibility of the coaches that work with the position may not be the national superstars that NFL QBs are, but the notoriety they garner for being associated with them is tremendous. It may have been the FBS ranks, but look how Joe Brady’s star rose after helping Joe Burrow put together the most prolific college football season a QB has ever seen in 2019.

And even though the NFL has taken many strides in recent years with its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, the numbers show it is still falling flat with the gap between high-ranking coaches and executives with diverse backgrounds in comparison to their White/male counterparts.

But if there is one change that will make a difference — and help promote a diverse talent pool for future HCs, OCs, and front-office staff — this may be the Rooney Rule change that makes the biggest impact.