Panthers Tracks: Carolina part of NFL coach hiring spree that led to Rooney Rule change
The NFL, like so many major businesses, has areas it needs to work on and improve.
That’s been on display in new ways over the past couple of months, especially with the unique production of the NFL draft. Viewers were given a rare glimpse of many of the team’s biggest decision-makers drafting in their homes and putting on display how prevalent the lack of diversity is in high-ranking NFL positions.
This is a topic that has been heavily written about in the past week because of the new policies the NFL put in place Tuesday, adjusting the Rooney Rule in order to “increase employment opportunities and advancement for minorities and women across the league.”
The lack of diversity in high-ranking NFL positions is a topic that cannot be discussed enough. At least not until real change is actually made and is long-lasting. What the league did this week is just a start.
Teams are now required to interview at least two external minority candidates instead of one for head-coaching jobs. One minority candidate will also be required to be interviewed for other positions, including coordinator jobs, general manager and many others.
Assistant coaches can also not be blocked from interviewing for coordinator jobs with other teams. In addition, all 32 teams will now have a full-time coaching fellowship program, lasting one to two years, geared toward minority candidates.
“We believe these new policies demonstrate the NFL owners’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in the NFL,” said Art Rooney II, the Pittsburgh Steelers owner and chairman of the Workplace Diversity Committee. “The development of young coaches and young executives is a key to our future. These steps will assure coaching and football personnel are afforded a fair and equitable opportunity to advance throughout our football operations.”
The Carolina Panthers just went through an almost complete coaching staff change. Before hiring Matt Rhule as coach, the team had official interviews with now-Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Just one, extremely qualified, external minority candidate interviewed.
Had these rules be in effect a few months prior, who knows who would be the head coach in Carolina. Would it most likely still be Rhule? Maybe. The Panthers, especially general manager Marty Hurney, didn’t go to Waco, Texas, with the idea in mind that they would be wowed by a coach with only one year of professional experience. But they were. Anything can happen in an interview.
This matters because while about 70 percent of the players in the league are African-American, there are only four nonwhite head coaches, down from an all-time high of eight in 2014. Of the five spots filled this offseason, only one was a nonwhite candidate (Ron Rivera).
When it comes to the Panthers assistants, Rhule was given the freedom to hire who he liked. That’s why so much of the coaching staff came from Baylor. Joe Brady? That was a Rhule hire as well.
Of the 24 members of the coaching staff photographed on the Panthers’ website, 16 are white including both coordinator positions. For comparison, 17 of the 25 members of the Saints coaching staff are white and 16 of the 26 coaches on Washington’s staff are white.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the coordinators in the NFL are about 80 percent white. That’s precisely why the NFL realized the Rooney Rule requiring one minority candidate to be interviewed for head-coaching and general manager jobs needed to be expanded.
There needs to be more opportunities for assistants to interview for coordinator jobs for a variety of reasons, but partly because it will hopefully create more diversity on a higher-ranking level, which will then translate to head coaches.
Would Rhule have not made Phil Snow his defensive coordinator because of an interview with an external minority candidate? Maybe not, he has known Snow for years and believes in him as a coordinator. But possibly it would have introduced him to a defensive coach that would be a good fit in his staff in a different role or in the future. It gives everyone a greater chance for success.
The way that this coaching cycle occurred helped push the changes the NFL implemented this week, therefore a reflection on the Panthers’ staff is inevitable. Whether or not this becomes a turning point, however, is still yet to be seen.
— Alaina Getzeberg
Panthers preseason schedule
The Panthers’ preseason schedule was finalized this week after the regular season was announced earlier this month.
Aug. 13 at 7:30 p.m. vs. Jaguars
Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Patriots
Aug. 30 at 8 p.m. at Ravens
Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m. vs. Steelers
Required reading
+ Panthers PSL owners uneasy paying for tickets until answers about NFL season are clear
+ Carolina Panthers aren’t expected to return to Bank of America Stadium until June
+ Panthers owner David Tepper: NFL can play with ‘some fans’ in attendance this year
+ Pipe and Foundry plant relocating, opens up land for possible new Panthers stadium site
+ High school football at Panthers’ stadium long overdue. It should happen more often
+ How Kenny Robinson learned from mistakes and the XFL and made his way to the Panthers
