A lack of diversity in the NFL's coaching ranks is an ancient problem—one that persisted long after large-scale integration came to the league's player pool. The Rooney Rule, the league's signature coaching diversity initiative, was created in 2002, at which time the league had only ever had seven minority head coaches.
Earlier this decade, the league created an accelerator program designed to help minority coaching and executive candidates get a foot in the door with teams. Now, that program is being put on hold—with an aim toward improving it in the future.
"One of the things that we're really, really trying to focus on here at the league is, how do we attract, retain and develop the best talent in the world," NFL EVP and chief administrative officer Dasha Smith told Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports Tuesday morning. "And as we think about ourselves as aspiring to be a premier global sports organization, it's becoming more important than ever just to make sure that we have the absolute best talent in the NFL. And so we're doubling down on really making sure that we can continue to meet that goal."
The pause—enacted a week before the league's spring meetings in Minneapolis—comes amid considerable hostility toward diversity as a concept from the American government. President Donald Trump has repeatedly moved to dismantle government diversity programs, and while many companies have fallen in line behind him, the NFL has—for the time being—remained steadfast.
"We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League," commissioner Roger Goodell said at the Super Bowl. "And we're going to continue those efforts because we've not only convinced ourselves, I think we've proven ourselves that it does make the NFL better."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Plans to Double Down on Coaching Diversity Program With Improvements in Mind.
