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Nick Wagoner
Multiple Authors
SAN JOSE, Calif. — One day after the NFL’s coaching carousel stopped with 10 head coaching jobs filled but only one by a minority candidate, commissioner Roger Goodell said the league would take a closer a look at the Rooney Rule and all that it encompasses to “continue to make progress” on diversity.
“I think we have become a more diverse league across every platform including coaching, but we still have more work to do,” Goodell said. “There’s got to be more steps. We’re reevaluating everything we’re doing, including the accelerator program, including every aspect of our policies in our program to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow rather than yesterday. We need to be looking at that and why did we have those results this year?”
Speaking Monday at the San Jose Convention Center during his annual Super Bowl week news conference, Goodell fielded five questions either directly or tangentially related to the Rooney Rule, which was adopted in 2003 and requires every team with a head coaching, coordinator or general manager opening to interview at least two minority candidates before it can make a hire. Teams must also interview at least one minority candidate for the position of quarterbacks coach.
Goodell said Monday that every team was Rooney Rule-compliant in the head coaching cycle and that he “believes” every team with a head coach opening “exceeded” the Rooney Rule this year by interviewing more than the requisite two minority candidates.
Still, Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent, was the only minority candidate to land a top job, and no Black head coaches were hired. It’s the fifth time since the Rooney Rule was implemented that no Black head coaches were hired during an offseason cycle.
Heading toward the 2026 season, there are three Black head coaches in the NFL: DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texas, Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets.
“We have to continue to evaluate everything we’re doing and every aspect of the hiring process, how do we professionalize it to the best of our ability,” Goodell said. “I think some of the changes we made was giving more time for the interviews. … But we’re going to see that from year to year where you have different outcomes and that’s something we’ve got to look at. But we’re going to see that from time to time and that’s something we’ve got to just evaluate so we can learn and then continue to focus on what can we do better across 32 clubs and the league.”
Goodell was also asked Monday about last year’s cancellation of the league’s accelerator program, which was designed in 2022 to connect coaches of diverse backgrounds with owners and team executives, and whether it had an effect on this year’s hiring cycle. Goodell said he didn’t think the accelerator program’s hiatus was tied to the lack of diverse hires in this year’s coaching cycle and indicated the program would return in some form this year.
“I think long term it’s something that we want to continue and figure out how could we use that to make sure that people understand the level of talent that is out there and how to give them the opportunities to continue their careers,” Goodell said. “And that goes to all the talent across the entire NFL and people that are not in the NFL.”
Despite the lack of results the Rooney Rule provided during the 2026 hiring cycle, Goodell insisted that the rule remains a net positive and said changes in how and when teams can interview candidates has opened doors for more candidates to be interviewed. He added that teams around the league would dispute the notion that it has become a box to check for teams looking to hire coaches or football decision-makers.
“We’re in a competitive league,” Goodell said. “People are challenged and we had 10 openings this year. Teams are trying to get the coaches they think can win. I think taking the time pressure off of that is one of the things we focused on as a league in the policy to give them that time so that they can make a really good decision that they make independently. But a decision that is based on being able to look at the diversity of candidates. And I think that only benefits the NFL, and the Rooney Rule I think has done that.”
