Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin used to an unexpected venue to express his support for changing the NFL’s Rooney Rule.
Tomlin spoke Monday with Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari’s “Coffee with Cal” Facebook show.
The NFL is exploring the idea of allowing teams that hire minority head coaches or general managers to move up in the order for a future draft.
According to ESPN, Tomlin told Calipari, “We’ve always taken it from the approach of, punitive if you don’t interview minority candidates or things of that nature. I just like the different approach in terms of spinning it 180 and talking about maybe incentivizing those that develop the talent and those that hire the talent.”
The NFL established the Rooney Rule in 2003, requiring teams to interview minority candidates for head-coaching jobs. In 2009, the league added the same stipulations for senior football operations jobs.
Last week, the Rooney Rule was expanded again, requiring teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for head-coaching openings, and at least one external minority candidate for vacancies at offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, general manager and senior football operation roles.
Source: NYPost
