What is the Rooney Rule as it relates to the Raiders coaching search?

The Las Vegas Raiders are more than a week into their coaching search and yet there are still hurdles that must be cleared before any decisions can be finalized.

Like every NFL team, they must conduct at least two in-person interviews for the position with minority candidates, which includes females.

It’s part of the Rooney Rule requirements, a set of rules that began in 2003. They were enacted to encourage best hiring practices to foster and provide opportunity to diverse leadership throughout the league.

In an era where some other businesses have succumbed to pressure to eliminate similar policies, the NFL has leaned into theirs with the belief the rule has made the game better.

“This diversity enriches the game and creates a more effective, quality organization from top to bottom,” according to the league’s web page explaining the guidelines states.

The original rule, named for then-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers Dan Rooney, was adopted in 2003 and has expanded through the years from the early days of requiring every team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one diverse candidate to address concerns over historically low numbers of minorities in the position.

An investigation by civil rights attorneys at the time determined that Black head coaches, of which there had been very few in league history, had a “higher winning percentage than white head coaches, but were still more likely to be fired.”

The study was in response to the firing of Dennis Green and Tony Dungy, who was just the fifth Black head coach in league history and was fired despite a 54-42 record in six seasons with Tampa Bay.

Evolution of the rule

That policy was expanded to include general manager and primary football executive jobs requiring at least two external minority candidates, as well as coordinator positions. At least one diverse candidate must be interviewed for an open quarterback coach or senior level executive position.

The two interviews for head coach must be in-person, so the preliminary zoom interview the Raiders have conducted with Vance Joseph would not fulfill the requirement.

Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and Rams passing game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase have also been requested for interviews.

An update to the policy in 2020 added incentives for teams that develop minority coaches in their building that then move on to bigger jobs elsewhere.

Incentives added

Any team that loses a minority executive or coach to another team receives a compensatory pick in the third round of the draft for each of the next two years.

Teams that lose both a coach and personnel staffer get three years of third-round compensatory picks.

That addendum was meant to encourage organizations to bring in and develop a more diverse group of young coaches and staffers.

The updates have been designed to “bolster the current Rooney Rule requirements and are intended to create additional opportunities for diverse candidates to be identified, interviewed, and ultimately hired when a vacancy becomes available,” commissioner Roger Goodell stated at the time.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.