News - December 20, 2002

Principle of Diverse Candidate Slates for Head Coach Hires:
A Major Step in the Right Direction, But Implementation Is the Key

Joint Statement by Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. and Cyrus Mehri

"Tonight's announcement that the National Football League's Workplace Diversity Committee, chaired by Dan Rooney, proposed and the owners agreed to interview one or more minority candidates for vacant head coaching positions is a major step in the right direction. On September 30th, we released the report, Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities, because we believed the time has come to create a level playing field for hiring of black coaches in the NFL. In our report, we proposed mandatory diverse candidate slates for top coaching positions to foster fair competition.

By adopting this principle, the NFL owners may create a long awaited breakthrough in minority hiring practices for head coaches. Under the leadership of Dan Rooney, the Diversity Committee and the Working Group have moved the ball into the red zone. It is now up to the owners to get the job done by moving it over the goal line.

Implementation is the key to the success of the diverse candidate slate principle. The NFL=s proposal unfortunately leaves wide open the issue of enforceability. We believe that the NFL owners must be held accountable if there is a departure from the diverse candidate slate principle. We urge the Workplace Diversity Committee to consider additional proposals that put teeth behind the diverse candidate principle and extend the principle to offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and assistant head coach positions.

The Rooney Committee must also turn to fair competition in the front office. We remain particularly troubled by the fact that so many owners have never even interviewed, let alone hired, a minority candidate for a position of authority in the front offices. At the moment, the NFL lags far behind the NBA and Major League Baseball. When the Rooney Committee reconvenes, we believe that the Committee should consider proposals to extend the diverse candidate slate principle to key front office positions.

We are pleased that our report has been a catalyst for change. We have received support from all segments of the NFL community: current and former players, coaches, and front office personnel. Since we released the report, major developments have occurred:

  • The top brass of the NFL met with our team on October 22 to discuss a possible amicable resolution of this matter.
  • A week later, Commissioner Tagliabue formed a Diversity Committee of Owners and Working Group of Front Office Executives.
  • Diversity Committee Chair Dan Rooney committed to putting new hiring practices in place prior to the 2003 hiring cycle.
  • NFLPA President Gene Upshaw formed a Player Diversity Committee with NFL stars such as Marshall Faulk and Troy Vincent.
  • Art Modell helped crack the glass ceiling with the appointment of Ozzie Newsome as the first African American with both the title and the duties of General Manager.
  • NFL adopts core principle: diverse candidate slates for head coaching positions on December 20.

We encourage fans to remain vigilant to be sure that all teams in the NFL fully carry out the diverse candidate agreement. We will closely monitor the next hiring cycle for NFL coaches. During the off-season we will examine several options we have to further advance equal opportunity in the NFL coaching and front offices.

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Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities can be found www.FindJustice.com.