Words from wise Minneapolis coach need to be heard across NFL as Rooney Rule falters

Larry McKenzie's voice trembled on the phone. The Minneapolis North boys' basketball coach was angry and sad, and he was worried about how his players were processing the death of George Floyd in the chaotic, traumatizing aftermath in late May 2020.

McKenzie scheduled a Zoom call with his players. I asked in our phone conversation what he planned to tell them. He said he wanted them to know that change will happen when they have "an entree into the rooms where decisions are made."

That quote has been on my mind a lot the past week in reflecting on a lawsuit brought by former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores against the NFL alleging discriminatory hiring practices.

The league's woeful record on hiring Black head coaches remains a problem despite rules put into place to support advancement. The NFL currently has only one Black head coach while players make up 70% of rosters. That's embarrassing. In a memo to teams Saturday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly said "the results have been unacceptable" in hiring head coaches of color.

The discussion taking place around the league must acknowledge that the Rooney Rule isn't having its intended effect. The rule requires teams to interview candidates of color for head coach and general manager openings. The concept is certainly well-intentioned and has allowed more Black coaches to gain access to the interview process, but the numbers don't show progress in clearing the final hurdle.

What Flores said publicly — and other Black coaches attest to privately — is that the Rooney Rule too often gives the feeling that they are participating in sham interviews that mean nothing more than teams checking a box.

N. Jeremi Duru is an expert on the Rooney Rule as former counsel for the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an advocacy organization that monitors NFL diversity. Duru calls the Rooney Rule "a good rule," but notes that many teams blatantly "ignore" it by not interviewing Black candidates in good faith.

"Listen, you don't have to hire the person," said Duru, a professor of law at American University. "But can you tell me that you've got the best person for the job if you've zeroed in on that person from the beginning?"

The standard pushback — "Just hire the best candidate" — is too convenient and dismissive. It does nothing to dig deep on a complicated, emotional issue.

I won't pretend to have all this figured out, but I believe McKenzie's message is one way necessary change can happen: Get Black leaders and leaders of color into the room where decisions are made. That's where progress happens. If teams show more inclusion in hiring executives and key decisionmakers, other barriers will begin to crumble.

Duru said the mission in hiring head coaches should be fairness and keeping an open mind, not shaming a team into hiring someone based on skin color.

"As long as you give meaningful opportunity for all candidates, nobody is complaining," he said. "If you go to the assistant coaches in the league who are Black, to a person they're going to tell you, 'I don't want to be given a job just because I'm Black. This is supposed to be a meritocracy. Darn it, I want to show you my merits. Just give me chance.'

"They don't want a handout. They just want an opportunity. When a full meaningful opportunity does not appear to be granted, it can be very demoralizing."

The Vikings hired a head coach inside the vortex of a lawsuit that torched the NFL. A search committee led by new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who is Black, chose a white coach, Kevin O'Connell. Based on what I've heard and what I saw in the past week, the process that led them to that decision was fair.

Full transparency: I rooted for the Vikings to hire Jim Harbaugh, which feels hypocritical in the context of this discussion. I thought he was the most proven candidate among a group that included two Black finalists.

The Vikings cast a wide net and seemingly gave candidates an equal opportunity. Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who is Black, interviewed at the facility for nine hours Tuesday, the day after the team interviewed O'Connell and Raheem Morris and the day before Harbaugh arrived.

While many of us wrongly assumed that Harbaugh's interview was a formality, the Vikings treated him like every other candidate. His interview here fell flat, and the Vikings chose O'Connell, who stood out to them above the rest.

The number of Black NFL head coaches did not change, but I can't fault the Vikings because their search process appeared thorough, fair and conducted with an open mind. This also is a franchise ownership group with a track record of inclusive hiring, including their decision to select Adofo-Mensah.

Former player Troy Vincent, now a high-ranking NFL executive, called the league's hiring process "broken." The Rooney Rule alone won't fix it. NFL owners could learn a lot from Larry McKenzie's message.