Roger Goodell States the NFL will Re-Evaluate the Rooney Rule Amid Allegations of Racial Discrimination

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell held his annual press conference ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl, where he addressed recent allegations of racial discrimination within the league’s hiring process for head coaches.

As expected, Goodell gave mostly generalized responses to the questions, but the NFL’s commissioner did state the obvious by acknowledging the league “fell short” in terms of hiring minority head coaches.

“We won’t tolerate racism,” Goodell said during his Wednesday press conference. “We won’t tolerate discrimination. If there are policies that we need to modify, we’re going to do that. If we’ve seen evidence of discrimination, we will deal with that in a very serious way that will reflect the fact that we won’t tolerate that.”

Last week, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, alleging racial discrimination and placing a spotlight on the league’s lack of diversity with the coaching position.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, the NFL had just one Black head coach among its 32 teams, a deplorable representation of diversity especially considering 60 percent of the league’s players are Black. Earlier this week, the Houston Texans hired Lovie Smith, making him the second Black head coach in the NFL, joining Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Although the NFL initially claimed the claims within Flores’s lawsuit were “without merit,” the league has since softened its stance by acknowledging they have a diversity problem. According to Goodell, everything will be re-evaluated, including the Rooney Rule, which was launched in 2003 and requires teams to interview a minority candidate during its coaching search.

“What we’re going to do is step back and look at everything we’re doing today, reevaluate that,” Goodell said. “Everything from looking at the Rooney Rule and seeing what changes should be made to that, if any changes. Or should it be removed, which some people have suggested.”

Flores is included among those who recently suggested the Rooney Rule should be removed. In his lawsuit against the NFL, Flores referred to the policy as a “well-intentioned failure.”

Watch above via NFL Network