Rooney Rule
Definition
The Rooney Rule is a National Football League (NFL) policy, established in 2003, that requires every team to interview at least one ethnic-minority candidate for head coaching and senior football operations job vacancies.
Named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the rule aims to promote diversity in NFL leadership positions and has been adapted by other organizations for similar purposes.
Examples
The franchise finally ticked the Rooney Rule box by Zoom-calling a minority coordinator who was already their third choice.
Critics say the Rooney Rule is like requiring a pizza place to interview a vegan chef before ordering pepperoni—technically diverse, rarely decisive.
In a plot twist worthy of a halftime show, the Rooney Rule led to the team's best hire since they drafted that punter in the first round.
Owners grumbled about the Rooney Rule like it was asking them to trade their star quarterback for a bag of draft picks.