Teams interviewing multiple minority coaches has advocate 'ecstatic'
More than a week after the NFL's regular season ended, none of the league's six head coaching vacancies has been filled.
But the head of the organization that promotes diversity and equality in these searches says he is ecstatic with the process to this point, as several teams have requested to interview multiple candidates of color, rather than just one to comply with the Rooney Rule.
"That's what we've seen now and that's what's very gratifying to us," Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation chairman John Wooten told Paste BN Sports on Tuesday, "the fact that everybody's not just interviewing Todd Bowles and the other candidates are not getting a shot."
Bowles, the respected Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator, is a veteran of the process, having interviewed for seven NFL head coaching jobs over the previous six years, and seems well-positioned to finally get his shot this year.
He'll interview with four teams this week: the New York Jets on Wednesday, the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday, the San Francisco 49ers on Friday and the Chicago Bears on Saturday. The Oakland Raiders have requested permission to speak with Bowles as well.
But the Raiders also interviewed Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. The 49ers and Falcons will interview Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. The only team that hasn't requested an interview with Bowles, the Buffalo Bills, has requested interviews with Hamilton, Austin and Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, Wooten said.
These were the sort of real opportunities Wooten, a former NFL player and scout who retired as the Baltimore Ravens pro scouting director in 2002, told Commissioner Roger Goodell he hoped to see when the two met last month in New York.
"We know that we have guys of great quality, ability to coach in this league as head coaches," Wooten said. "So we're a little bit taken (back) when each team just interviews one minority and you have three or four guys that you know are top-quality guys."
The Jets' interview of assistant head coach/running backs Anthony Lynn appeared to be a move to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate before filling any head coach or general manager-type vacancy. But Wooten said he had an extensive conversation with Jets President Neil Glat about it and was very satisfied with the response.
While roughly 75% of NFL players are black, there were just three black head coaches in 2013 – down from seven in 2006, three years after the Rooney Rule was implemented – and four this season: Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin, Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis, Detroit's Jim Caldwell and Tampa Bay's Lovie Smith. Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera is of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league has greatly improved and expanded the pipeline of candidates of all races with the work of its career advisory panel,which includes former coaches and GMs and is in its second year of providing a list of recommendations to teams.
Roughly 20 white coaches have interviewed or been linked to various openings this year, too. No matter how the hirings turn out, though, Wooten is pleased that teams appear to be proceeding with open minds.
"That's very meaningful to me," Wooten said.
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