Diversity In NFL Leadership Positions, Or The Lack There Of

I was tuning into the latest episode of Bryant Gumbel, when his infamous commentary lead me to speak about an issue that is unseen, and UN-discussed in a business that is literally bigger than life, that is the NFL. That issue being the job opportunities that are given to men of color. The league is 68% black on the rosters, but we're talking about beyond the rosters today. This off-season there was 15 job vacancies in the NFL just in the ranks of head coaches and general managers, not one was filled by a man or woman of color. Many blow it off as if it's not really a big deal, but sitting before you as someone who has future ambitions to become a coach on the highest level one day, it's a HUGE deal. This isn't a problem that just came about in the NFL, it's an on going issue that really has no sign of turning around or getting better. The NFL league office is not in the dark about the situation, they are actually very aware.In the wake of no minority hirings to fill eight head coaching and seven general management vacancies following the conclusion of the 2012 NFL regular season, NFL Executive Vice president of Human Resources Robert Gulliver stated, "While there has been full compliance with the interview requirements of the Rooney Rule and we wish the new head coaches and general managers much success, the hiring results this year have been unexpected and reflect a disappointing lack of diversity. The true question is do they care? Commissioner Roger Goodell has been asked about this on numerous occasions. Most recently he stated how sorry and disappointed he is about the results of the most recent 15 hires, but is an apology enough? They have made an effort to change thing by implementing what we know as the Rooney rule.The rule for which was established to ensure that minority coaches, especially African Americans, were considered for high-level coaching positions. But has it work? Has it had an impact? Since the Rooney Rule was established in 2003, several NFL franchises have hired African American head coaches, at the start of 2006 season, the overall percentage of African American coaches had jumped to 22%, up from 6% prior to the Rooney Rule. However, that number and percentage has declined each of the last 3 years which lead many to believe and ask, Is the Rooney rule broken? Coach Tony Dungy said about the topic, "I know the concept is good and something we need to do, Obviously, it's not working the way it should." Herm Edwards, former coach of the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs and now an ESPN analyst, has called for not only revising the rule but perhaps even changing its name. "When you use the Rooney Rule and not correctly, you put a little bit of a bad mark on Mr. Rooney's name, and that is not good," Edwards said. "If it keeps going this way, we might need to take his name off the rule. It is not being used in the right manner that Mr. Rooney meant it to be." In the last three years, there has been 21 Job vacancy's none filled by people of color, so obviously regardless of race the owner are making the wrong decisions anyways. When we take all the factual information into hand, it makes you wonder what needs to be done, and what could be done to fix this problem. It's pretty clear that the rule needs to be tweak or revamped somehow. The Rooney Rule requires National Football League teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs, keyword being INTERVIEW. I don't think we can make it to where we tell these owner who they must hire to operate in their business, but many wonder if they only interview the candidate just to follow the rule, that I can't answer but I know this, the NFL better do something about it and soon, because your starting to hear the whispers of legal actions being taken, and from the outside looking in that is a battle and a war the NFL has not a fighting chance in!