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Rooney Rule Essay

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Should the NCAA Adopt a Rule Similar to the NFL’s Rooney Rule?
Quintez T. Choice
Georgia Southern University

The Rooney rule is a rule that the NFL created back in 2002 and implemented in 2003. According to Burke (2013) “the rule stated that each organization had to interview at least one minority candidate for all coaching and general manager positions once there was an opening.” The Rooney rule changed the league as a whole, according to Thomas George of the New York Times in an online article (2002), “since 1920 the league has hired more than 400 head coaches and only 6 or 1.5% have been African American.” This rule was specifically created to help African American and other minority coaches get head coaching jobs at the professional level. This was a great rule that the NFL decided to create, according to George (2002), “minorities compose nearly 70 percent of the league,” but the coordinators jobs are 72 percent white and 28 percent African American. After the Rooney Rule was put in place it took a while but the …show more content…

His rule was created after both Tony Dungy and Dennis Green were both fired at the end of the 2002 season, Dungy was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite having a winning season and Green was fired by the Minnesota Vikings after his first losing season in 10 years. Both of these coaches got fired by their respective organizations for virtually no reason, both coaches had incredible win percentages throughout their career and were fired after one season that was considered a down season for them. Dan Rooney just recently passed away earlier this month, he was 84, he not only left his legacy of the Pittsburgh Steelers behind, he also left behind the Rooney Rule which will always be relevant in the NFL and the sports world as a whole for as long as sports may

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