Attorney General James Uthmeier is calling a penalty on the National Football League, claiming its policies encouraging teams to hire nonwhite coaches violate Florida’s employment laws banning discrimination.
He wrote a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday warning the league’s “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to interview an African-American or other ethnic minority for a head coaching position before making a hire is discriminatory.
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“Under NFL policy, therefore, a franchise may wish to hire an experienced, highly qualified candidate, but it can’t do so for certain positions if the candidate happens to belong to a particular race. At least not immediately,” Uthmeier wrote. “These methods of directing the selection and training of certain executives, coaches, and other employees based on skin color and sex is discriminatory and violates Florida law. “
The Rooney Rule is named after the late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the uncle of former U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney. It was installed league-wide in 2003 after two Black head coaches, Tony Dungy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings were fired despite winning tenures.
Dungy was also an assistant under legendary Steelers coach Chuck Noll in the 1980s and directed the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl title in 2006-07. He is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Bucs' Ring of Honor.
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The Rooney Rule has expanded since its inception, when it was applied to Black candidates for coaching jobs, to now cover all ethnic minorities and all senior football operations positions within a franchise. In 2022 it expanded further to require all teams to have at least one ethnic minority on its offensive coaching staff.
Critics of the rule have said it hasn’t achieved its stated purpose: hiring more Black coaches. In the current offseason coaching carousel, there were 10 head coach openings and none were filled by an African-American. There are three current head coaches in the NFL who are Black, including Tampa Bay's Todd Bowles.
“The NFL’s use of the Rooney Rule violates Florida law by requiring race-based considerations in hiring. Florida law is clear: hiring decisions cannot be based on race,” Uthmeier said in a video released on X. “We’re demanding the NFL suspend the Rooney Rule and failure to do so may result in enforcement actions against the league for raced-based discrimination.”
