Furious football fans have called out NFL team owners over the lack of black head coaches currently in the league.
The complaints come as the NFL’s coaching carousel reaches its closing stages, with only the Las Vegas Raiders – who are reportedly closing in on Seattle OC Klint Kubiak – in the hunt for a new head coach.
With that in mind, a number of NFL fans have since taken issue with the league’s ‘Rooney Rule’ after noting the lack of black coaches hired during the offseason.
One post on X read: ‘Not a single Black head coach was hired in this year’s coaching cycle despite a record 10 teams having a position open. Many NFL fans are already calling the NFL to investigate. The Rooney Rule has become an absolute joke…’
It didn’t take long for a number of fans to chime in and agree with the viral post.
Another said: ’32 NFL Teams … only 3 of those teams have black head coaches… in a league where it’s predominantly black players . Don’t sit right with me’.
NFL fans called out team owners over the lack of black head coaches currently in the league
Fans also took issue with the ‘Rooney Rule’ (Pictured: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell)
The likes of John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski were among coaching hires this month
‘This is final and there are ZERO black coaches hired in this cycle. Sad. 10 openings’, another wrote on the platform.
One said: ‘Zero Black head coaches hired during this year’s NFL hiring cycle. Shameful!’
’10 vacancies. Not 1 Black hire. 1 Black OC. We got a pipeline problem!’, one said.
However, some fans noted that the Tennessee Titans hired Robert Saleh – who was born to Lebanese parents – as their head coach last week. However, aside from Saleh, the eight other new head coaches are all white.
As it stands, there are currently three head coaches in the league. They include Aaron Glenn with the Jets, Todd Bowles with the Bucs and DeMeco Ryans with the Texans.
The NFL first adopted the Rooney Rule in 2003, to tackle accusations that it limited coaching and management opportunities for minorities.
The rule has been modified to require teams to interview at least two candidates of color for head coaching and general manager roles, and at least one minority or female candidate for senior level jobs.
In February 2024, a conservative legal group accused the NFL of discriminating against white candidates by requiring teams to interview minority applicants for top coaching and executive jobs.
America First Legal (AFL), which was founded by former Trump administration officials, filed a civil rights complaint saying the NFL’s ‘Rooney Rule’ amounts to unlawful race bias under federal law.
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn is one of three black head coaches in the NFL
The complaint, filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), came just days before the Super Bowl clash between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Ian Prior, the AFL lawyer who was behind the complaint, said it was time to scrap rules that force teams to interview candidates ‘not because of their skill and hard work, but rather because of the color of their skin.’
This is ‘insulting and condescending to prospective coaches who are merely interviewed to check a box,’ he said.
It’s the ‘exact kind of racial balancing that the Supreme Court has unequivocally denounced as illegal,’ he added.
