The “Rooney Rule” was instituted in the NFL to ensure that minorities were given adequate opportunities to join NFL coaching staffs. Unfortunately, as a result of the rule’s implementation, organizations sometimes conduct “sham” interviews with minority candidates.
In these interviews, teams conduct coaching interviews with minority candidates despite having no real interest in making the hire.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Jacksonville Jaguars recently had one of the most egregious violations of the Rooney Rule in recent memory. The Jags had to conduct their interview with new head coach Liam Coen in secrecy because he’d already agreed in principle to return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive coordinator.
However, there was also something more sinister going on behind the scenes.
Jacksonville was also conducting interviews with head coach candidates Robert Saleh and Patrick Graham. Or so thought Saleh and Graham.
“The secrecy over the visit did serve two theoretical purposes. One, obviously, it would preserve the Tampa offer for Coen, which, again, was contingent on the OC not visiting Jacksonville. Two, it allowed the Jaguars to satisfy the Rooney Rule,” Sports Illustrated reported.
“Going into Thursday, the Jags only had one minority candidate in for an in-person interview—Saleh’s first was in-person. They needed two to comply, so Graham was slated to come Thursday for the other. But the Jags didn’t want word of their plans getting out, which could cause Graham to cancel.”
It’ll be interesting to see if the league offices come down on the Jaguars for this blatant violation of the rules.
