Florida AG Warns NFL Against Race-Based Diversity Hiring

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier made it clear that he plans to challenge one of the most controversial practices in sports: an NFL rule that requires minority candidates to be interviewed for key coaching and front office decisions.

In a letter and an accompanying video released Wednesday, Uthmeier said he plans to challenge the so-called “Rooney Rule” used by the league, arguing it violates state law.

According to WPEC-TV in West Palm Beach, Uthmeier’s letter warned that the rule cannot be enforced on the three NFL teams based in Florida — the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers — saying all three must “interview, hire, and train based on merit,” as should the NFL.

If the teams are subject to the rule “or any variation or extension thereof,” he warned, it “may result in a civil rights enforcement action.”

He also said that the NFL’s Coach & Front Office Accelerator Program and Mackie Development Program would “limit, segregate, and classify” candidates in a manner inconsistent with Florida law.

“My office is sending a letter to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, regarding the league’s hiring practices — specifically, the use of the so-called ‘Rooney Rule,’ which requires NFL teams to interview candidates based on race,” he said in the social media video.

“The NFL’s use of the Rooney Rule violates Florida law by requiring race-based considerations in hiring. Florida law is clear: Hiring decisions cannot be based on race, and the Rooney Rule mandates race-based interviews and incentivizes race-based decisions.”

Professional sports are a visible example of a merit-based system, but through the Rooney Rule, the NFL requires its teams to use race-based hiring practices.

We are putting Commissioner Roger Goodell on notice: the Rooney Rule violates Florida law, and it must stop. pic.twitter.com/g8La6TzUZw

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) March 25, 2026

The rule — named after then-Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who was the head of the committee that recommended the policy — was implemented in 2003 amid the specter of a lawsuit led by O.J. Simpson attorney Johnnie Cochran.

While the league’s players were largely minority, the NFL had faced criticism that only three black head coaches had been hired by the league’s teams: Art Shell by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989, Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings in 1992, and Tony Dungy of the Buccaneers in 1996.

(Hispanic head coaches had a longer history in the league, starting with Tom Fears of the New Orleans Saints in 1967; Tom Flores of the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders won two Super Bowls as a head coach after the 1980 and 1983 seasons.)

All three black coaches hired before the Rooney Rule were also let go by their teams after rare mediocre seasons after long stretches of success, critics argued.

Under the Rooney Rule, at least one minority candidate must be interviewed for a head coaching position. In 2020, the rules were dramatically expanded, ESPN noted, to require two minority candidates outside the organization for a head coaching job and one minority candidate for coordinator jobs.

In addition, it expanded the rule to apply to executive positions and required teams to establish minority coaching fellowship programs.

At present, five minority coaches hold head coaching positions in the NFL: Three black (Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans, and Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets), one Hispanic (Dave Canales of the Carolina Panthers), and one Lebanese-American (Robert Saleh of the Tennessee Titans).

Two minority head coaches have won Super Bowls in the 24 seasons since the Rooney Rule took effect: Dungy after the 2006 season with the Indianapolis Colts, and Mike Tomlin after the 2008 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Between 2000 and 2024, the Associated Press reported, there had been 31 black head coaches out of 173 total new hires, although this did not count other minorities.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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