The NFL’s ongoing battle with the state of Florida over the Rooney Rule took another turn this month when attorney general James Uthmeier issued a 15-page subpoena to the league with a June 12 deadline to comply.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has since said (via Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein) that the league is “engaging with” Uthmeier, who was appointed to his position last year. To keep it, he must win an election this fall, making his attack on the Rooney Rule seem like an attempt to seize on a hot-button issue and raise his political profile. After all, the Rooney Rule is the prominent diversity hiring initiative of one of the biggest public-facing businesses in the world, making it an easy target for DEI opponents.
The league stood by the Rooney Rule in their initial public response, but quietly formalized some changes in the background. One was the softening of language related to minority hiring on the league’s webpage; another was acknowledging the end of a previous program that mandated each team to have a minority offensive assistant on their coaching staff.
The NFL also kicked off their revamped accelerator program in May. It was originally created in 2022 with a focus on increasing diversity in head coach and general manager positions by giving high-potential minority coaches and executives specialized training and networking opportunities.
The league canceled the accelerator program last year, stirring speculation that the league was looking to avoid DEI-related scrutiny from the Trump administration. This year, it returned with a very different scope. Previously, only minority coaches and executives participated, but just half of this year’s group are minorities. That does not appear to be an accident, as the NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams in March
“The May accelerator is intended to focus on advancing talent from underrepresented groups while remaining open to qualified senior-level candidates of all backgrounds,” the memo reads (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter). Senior vice president of league leadership and inclusion Jonathan Beane said (via Epstein) that the NFL wanted to “ensure that there is access and opportunity for everyone to compete for these very elite, exclusive roles.”
The focus has also shifted from creating a new leadership pipeline to helping the most qualified candidates take the final step into head coach or general manager positions.
“We wanted to make it a little more strict and elevated, really focusing on top talent that are really positioned to get that top position,” Beane said.
This year’s class includes several mainstays on the interview circuit over the last few years, as well as Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy and Chargers offensive coordinator and former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. (It’s fair to wonder why McDaniel, who was hired by Miami when he was 38 years old, had interest from several teams when he was fired this offseason, and still has a play-calling coordinator job, is participating.)
The changes to the accelerator program could be seen as another attempt to appease Uthmeier by minimizing the diversity focus of the league’s hiring initiatives with the hopes of precluding a legal battle. But depending on his objectives (and their relevancy to his upcoming election), he may force the NFL to publicly account for the Rooney Rule and other diversity programs regardless of any minor alterations they have already made.
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