NFL Still Struggling To Improve Coaching Diversity, New ACS Issue Brief Says

Transcription

1 NFL Still Struggling To Improve Coaching Diversity, New ACS Issue Brief Says Author Proposes Ways To Strengthen the Rooney Rule Dec. 17, 2008 CONTACT: Alex Wohl/Jeremy Leaming For Immediate Release Washington D.C. -- The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) today released an Issue Brief examining the mixed impact of the Rooney Rule on minority hiring in the National Football League. Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, says that the NFL has made some progress since passage of the Rooney Rule to encourage more minorities for head-coaching positions, but more work is needed. In his Issue Brief for ACS, available here, Douglas C. Proxmire, a partner at Patton Boggs LLP, says that heading into the 2008 season only six of thirty-two (19%) NFL teams were coached by minorities, up from two in It reached a high of seven in He further notes that the NFL still has no African-American majority team owners, no African-American CEOs or team presidents, and only four of the thirty-two NFL teams have African-American general managers or player personnel directors. Proxmire s Issue Brief offers a number of ideas for bolstering the Rooney Rule. He suggests it should be expanded to include front-office vacancies and that non-monetary penalties should be imposed on teams that violate the rule, such as stripping them of draft picks. He says a similar rule should be implemented by the NCAA for college football. Proxmire adds, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association should institute rules promoting diversity in hiring. The National Football League adopted the Rooney Rule in 2002 requiring that NFL teams with head-coaching vacancies to interview one or more minority candidates. It was adopted, Proxmire writes, because of the vast disparity between African-American player participation and coaching representation and the NFL s seventy-plus year track record of failing to interview and hire African-American coaches, except in rare cases. The Issue Brief, Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, is available here.

2 The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is one of the nation s leading progressive legal organizations, comprised of lawyers, judges, students and policy makers committed to promoting the vitality of the Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses. The views of Issue Brief authors are their own and should not be attributed to ACS. ###

3 NFL Still Struggling To Improve Coaching Diversity, New ACS Issue Brief Says Author Proposes Ways To Strengthen the Rooney Rule Dec. 17, 2008 CONTACT: Alex Wohl/Jeremy Leaming For Immediate Release Washington D.C. -- The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) today released an Issue Brief examining the mixed impact of the Rooney Rule on minority hiring in the National Football League. Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, says that the NFL has made some progress since passage of the Rooney Rule to encourage more minorities for head-coaching positions, but more work is needed. In his Issue Brief for ACS, available here, Douglas C. Proxmire, a partner at Patton Boggs LLP, says that heading into the 2008 season only six of thirty-two (19%) NFL teams were coached by minorities, up from two in It reached a high of seven in He further notes that the NFL still has no African-American majority team owners, no African-American CEOs or team presidents, and only four of the thirty-two NFL teams have African-American general managers or player personnel directors. Proxmire s Issue Brief offers a number of ideas for bolstering the Rooney Rule. He suggests it should be expanded to include front-office vacancies and that non-monetary penalties should be imposed on teams that violate the rule, such as stripping them of draft picks. He says a similar rule should be implemented by the NCAA for college football. Proxmire adds, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association should institute rules promoting diversity in hiring. The National Football League adopted the Rooney Rule in 2002 requiring that NFL teams with head-coaching vacancies to interview one or more minority candidates. It was adopted, Proxmire writes, because of the vast disparity between African-American player participation and coaching representation and the NFL s seventy-plus year track record of failing to interview and hire African-American coaches, except in rare cases. The Issue Brief, Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, is available here.

4 The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is one of the nation s leading progressive legal organizations, comprised of lawyers, judges, students and policy makers committed to promoting the vitality of the Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses. The views of Issue Brief authors are their own and should not be attributed to ACS. ###

5 NFL Still Struggling To Improve Coaching Diversity, New ACS Issue Brief Says Author Proposes Ways To Strengthen the Rooney Rule Dec. 17, 2008 CONTACT: Alex Wohl/Jeremy Leaming For Immediate Release Washington D.C. -- The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) today released an Issue Brief examining the mixed impact of the Rooney Rule on minority hiring in the National Football League. Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, says that the NFL has made some progress since passage of the Rooney Rule to encourage more minorities for head-coaching positions, but more work is needed. In his Issue Brief for ACS, available here, Douglas C. Proxmire, a partner at Patton Boggs LLP, says that heading into the 2008 season only six of thirty-two (19%) NFL teams were coached by minorities, up from two in It reached a high of seven in He further notes that the NFL still has no African-American majority team owners, no African-American CEOs or team presidents, and only four of the thirty-two NFL teams have African-American general managers or player personnel directors. Proxmire s Issue Brief offers a number of ideas for bolstering the Rooney Rule. He suggests it should be expanded to include front-office vacancies and that non-monetary penalties should be imposed on teams that violate the rule, such as stripping them of draft picks. He says a similar rule should be implemented by the NCAA for college football. Proxmire adds, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association should institute rules promoting diversity in hiring. The National Football League adopted the Rooney Rule in 2002 requiring that NFL teams with head-coaching vacancies to interview one or more minority candidates. It was adopted, Proxmire writes, because of the vast disparity between African-American player participation and coaching representation and the NFL s seventy-plus year track record of failing to interview and hire African-American coaches, except in rare cases. The Issue Brief, Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, is available here.

6 The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is one of the nation s leading progressive legal organizations, comprised of lawyers, judges, students and policy makers committed to promoting the vitality of the Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses. The views of Issue Brief authors are their own and should not be attributed to ACS. ###

7 NFL Still Struggling To Improve Coaching Diversity, New ACS Issue Brief Says Author Proposes Ways To Strengthen the Rooney Rule Dec. 17, 2008 CONTACT: Alex Wohl/Jeremy Leaming For Immediate Release Washington D.C. -- The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) today released an Issue Brief examining the mixed impact of the Rooney Rule on minority hiring in the National Football League. Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, says that the NFL has made some progress since passage of the Rooney Rule to encourage more minorities for head-coaching positions, but more work is needed. In his Issue Brief for ACS, available here, Douglas C. Proxmire, a partner at Patton Boggs LLP, says that heading into the 2008 season only six of thirty-two (19%) NFL teams were coached by minorities, up from two in It reached a high of seven in He further notes that the NFL still has no African-American majority team owners, no African-American CEOs or team presidents, and only four of the thirty-two NFL teams have African-American general managers or player personnel directors. Proxmire s Issue Brief offers a number of ideas for bolstering the Rooney Rule. He suggests it should be expanded to include front-office vacancies and that non-monetary penalties should be imposed on teams that violate the rule, such as stripping them of draft picks. He says a similar rule should be implemented by the NCAA for college football. Proxmire adds, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association should institute rules promoting diversity in hiring. The National Football League adopted the Rooney Rule in 2002 requiring that NFL teams with head-coaching vacancies to interview one or more minority candidates. It was adopted, Proxmire writes, because of the vast disparity between African-American player participation and coaching representation and the NFL s seventy-plus year track record of failing to interview and hire African-American coaches, except in rare cases. The Issue Brief, Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, is available here.

8 The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is one of the nation s leading progressive legal organizations, comprised of lawyers, judges, students and policy makers committed to promoting the vitality of the Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses. The views of Issue Brief authors are their own and should not be attributed to ACS. ###

9 NFL Still Struggling To Improve Coaching Diversity, New ACS Issue Brief Says Author Proposes Ways To Strengthen the Rooney Rule Dec. 17, 2008 CONTACT: Alex Wohl/Jeremy Leaming For Immediate Release Washington D.C. -- The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) today released an Issue Brief examining the mixed impact of the Rooney Rule on minority hiring in the National Football League. Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, says that the NFL has made some progress since passage of the Rooney Rule to encourage more minorities for head-coaching positions, but more work is needed. In his Issue Brief for ACS, available here, Douglas C. Proxmire, a partner at Patton Boggs LLP, says that heading into the 2008 season only six of thirty-two (19%) NFL teams were coached by minorities, up from two in It reached a high of seven in He further notes that the NFL still has no African-American majority team owners, no African-American CEOs or team presidents, and only four of the thirty-two NFL teams have African-American general managers or player personnel directors. Proxmire s Issue Brief offers a number of ideas for bolstering the Rooney Rule. He suggests it should be expanded to include front-office vacancies and that non-monetary penalties should be imposed on teams that violate the rule, such as stripping them of draft picks. He says a similar rule should be implemented by the NCAA for college football. Proxmire adds, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association should institute rules promoting diversity in hiring. The National Football League adopted the Rooney Rule in 2002 requiring that NFL teams with head-coaching vacancies to interview one or more minority candidates. It was adopted, Proxmire writes, because of the vast disparity between African-American player participation and coaching representation and the NFL s seventy-plus year track record of failing to interview and hire African-American coaches, except in rare cases. The Issue Brief, Coaching Diversity: The Rooney Rule, Its Application, and Ideas for Expansion, is available here.

10 The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is one of the nation s leading progressive legal organizations, comprised of lawyers, judges, students and policy makers committed to promoting the vitality of the Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses. The views of Issue Brief authors are their own and should not be attributed to ACS. ###