NFL Mulling Over Incentives Under Rooney Rule Hiring?

There is much hype about the NFL decision to table a discussion over bringing in the incentive system where every team that hires minority general managers & coaches under the Rooney Rule would be eligible for the incentive. Previously, the discussion was about adding a compensatory draft based on the job prominence. But, sources have revealed that the league will polish up the proposal and it will be polished in the near future. 

About Rooney Rule: 

The Rooney Rule was established in 2003. This policy suggests that the National Football League is required for ethnic minority candidates for various football operations & head coaching job roles. This does not talk about any hiring preference or quota for minority candidates. Rooney Rule is about only interviewing quota for these minority candidates. 

Changes in Rooney Rule during NFL 2020?

There are also speculations going over bringing about some changes in the previously defined Rooney Rule. The proposal where assistant coaches would be allowed to go ahead to interview coordinator roles has already been approved.  According to the other changes made, every team will be required to interview at least one candidate from a minority community for a coordinator position and at least two candidates from an external minority community for head coaching jobs. Other than that, the teams would also be required to interview one candidate from the external minority community for general manager and senior football operation jobs. In addition to that, according to these new changes, the teams will also have to include female candidates for senior-level positions. 

Super Bowl champion coach Tony Dungy did not look convinced with the idea calling it a “compensatory scheme for hiring minority candidates”.

Dungy said, “I'm personally not for it. I can see the coach's point of view, especially the minority coaches. Hey, I don't want to think I got hired just because you're going to get an extra draft choice. I want to get hired because I'm the best person. I don't want that extra draft choice to help me. I don't want you to think I need more to succeed. I understand all that. I think it's kind of like the pass interference rule of last year. People felt like something needed to be done. Maybe it's not exactly the right thing, but hopefully, this sparks some conversation and maybe we come up with a different kind of incentive. I'm not for [draft compensation for minority hires] personally, but I understand where they're coming from."

The National Football League currently has two non-white general managers and four non-white head coaches. The league currently has three out of the total 20 head coaching hirings, filled by minority head coaches.