NFL says all teams must add minority offensive coach, expands Rooney Rule to include women

PALM BEACH, Fla. — All 32 NFL teams will hire a minority offensive assistant coach for the 2022 season, part of a series of policy enhancements announced Monday to address the league's ongoing diversity efforts.

The coach can be «a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority,» according to the policy adopted by NFL owners during their annual meeting, and will be paid from a league-wide fund. The coach must work closely with the head coach and the offensive staff, with the goal of increasing minority participation in the pool of offensive coaches that eventually produces the most sought-after candidates for head coach positions.

«It's a recognition that at the moment, when you look at stepping stones for a head coach, they are the coordinator positions,» said Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, the chairman of the NFL diversity, equity and inclusion committee. «We clearly have a trend where coaches are coming from the offensive side of the ball in recent years, and we clearly do not have as many minorities in the offensive coordinator [job].»

Some teams already have a coach or coaches in similar assistant roles, which will count toward the program, NFL chief administrative officer Dasha Smith said. But the requirement for all teams represents the first hiring mandate in the history of the Rooney Rule, named after Art Rooney's father and designed to elevate minority hiring at all levels of the league.

There has been progress in some areas, most notably with general managers and defensive coordinators, but there are only five minority head coaches in the league. Commissioner Roger Goodell said in February that the league «fell short» of its goals during the 2022 head coach hiring cycle and pledged to redouble