DeMaurice Smith thinks NFL owners need a new system to hire coaches and GMs.
DeMaurice Smith, who is stepping down as the Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association, has written that the NFL’s Rooney Rule that calls for minority candidates to interview for head coaching jobs is not working and needs to be dropped. Smith, who co-wrote an opinion piece for the Yale Law and Policy Review with Carl Lasker, contended that “the National Football League and its member teams have failed to implement any policies, including the Rooney Rule, that are capable of effectuating sustainable racial and gender diversity in their coaching and executive ranks.” Smith and Lasker opined that “we believe that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the lack of diversity in the NFL coaching and executive ranks is not an accident but rather the result of a deliberate or deliberately indifferent policy of control exerted by the NFL owners.”
Smith and Lasker pointed out that fewer than 20 percent of NFL teams employ head coaches of color while 55 percent of players identify themselves as black and 70 percent of the league’s players identify themselves as racial minorities. Given those numbers it makes no sense that less than one-fifth of the 32 franchises have minority head coaches. Smith and Lasker zeroed in on the NFL’s accountability. “When it comes to the issue of fair hiring, the NFL’s non-accountability, special legislation, and profit structure perpetuate this ‘no consequence’ ecosystem to insulate owners from any outside influence for change.” Smith and Lasker believe “the NFL should immediately abandon its current hiring system and replace it with one that fairly evaluates talent, constrains team ownership from engaging in unlawful and/or meaningless “check the box” protocols, and enforces a deliberate, professional, and accountable system.” Will NFL owners listen to Smith? Probably not because “if the league ain’t broken, why should we fix it?”
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