Enhanced Rooney Rule helping with minority GM hiring, although HC progress lacking, Pittsburgh Steelers' Art Rooney II says

PITTSBURGH — Days after former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and three teams this week alleging discrimination in his interviews and his firing in Miami, Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II acknowledged that the league still has work to do in hiring minority candidates for head-coaching positions.

But he added that the NFL has made progress in hiring minority candidates in other team positions.

«While I acknowledge that we have not seen progress in the ranks of Head Coaches, we have seen marked improvement in the hiring of women and minorities in other key leadership roles such as Coordinator positions, General Manager positions, and front office positions both in and out of football operations,» Rooney II said in a statement. «I believe this progress has been made as a result of the implementation of many of the enhanced policies that were recently adopted.»

In the 2021 hiring cycle, three of seven general managers hired were minorities, along with two assistant general managers.

Three of 14 open offensive coordinator positions were filled by minority candidates, as were six of 14 open defensive coordinator positions and four of 10 open special teams coordinator positions. In 2020, no minority candidates were hired for vacant offensive or special teams coordinator positions.

Two of the Steelers' senior officials are minorities, including head coach Mike Tomlin, the only current NFL Black head coach, and vice president of football operations and business administration Omar Khan, who is of Hispanic descent. Khan recently interviewed for the Steelers' soon-to-be vacant general manager position, along with pro scouting coordinator Brandon Hunt, who is Black.

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