PHILADELPHIA _ 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 by requiring teams to interview more outside candidates for top jobs on the sidelines and in the front office. He's also pleased that a scheme collapsed that would reward teams with better draft positions when they hired and retained minority head coaches.
But John Wooten is not satisfied; and, as usual, he's got a better idea, and it's rooted in the basic problem: There are not enough qualified coordinators. So: Incentivize the process.
"Rather than giving a reward to the team that's receiving the new coach, give the reward to the team that developed them," Wooten says. His reward: Compensatory picks in the draft, similar to what teams receive when they lose top players to free agency.
Wooten, a Pro Bowl guard in the 1960s who ran the Eagles' player personnel department from 1994 to '97, helped write the Rooney Rule 17 years ago. He chaired the Fritz Pollard Alliance, the minority coaches' advocacy group, from its inception in 2003 until he retired last year. The Alliance still consults with the league. Wooten left frustrated. Minority hiring in the NFL peaked with eight head coaches in 2016, but, despite a job-search modification in 2018, only four NFL teams have minority coaches today. Worse, there were seven minority general managers in 2016. There are only two minority GMs today: Chris Grier in Miami and Andrew Berry, whom the Browns just hired away from the Eagles.
The situation embarrassed the NFL, especially after the two minority candidates who faced off in the Super Bowl as coordinators didn't get a sniff at open jobs, while white candidates with lesser credentials got their shot.
Eric Bieniemy ran the most-dangerous offense and the most-dangerous player in the NFL, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the last two seasons, but he was not hired by any of the three teams that interviewed him: the Browns, Panthers, or Giants. Similarly, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who ran the league's No. 2 defense, got one interview, with the Browns, and didn't get the job, either. It went to Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski, whom Saleh had just smothered in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Patriots special-teams and receivers coach Joe Judge got the Giants job. Baylor and former Temple head coach Matt Rhule, who has one year of NFL coaching experience _ he was the Giants' assistant offensive line coach in 2012 _ was hired by the Panthers.
Ahem.
"We recognize, after the last two seasons, that we can and must do more," Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.
That's what Wooten has been saying all along. You could feel the satisfaction through the phone as he sat in his home in Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday afternoon.
"I had to smile," he said. "These are things we've been asking for for years."
