Ryan Clark: NFL's Rooney Rule has 'become a joke'

The Rooney Rule is an NFL policy that requires teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. The rule was created to help coaches who are minorities but ESPN’s Ryan Clark isn’t convinced it’s effective.

Clark particularly took issue with the way the New England Patriots approached the rule in their recent hiring of Mike Vrabel as their next head coach. After firing minority head coach Jerod Mayo after only one season, the organization quickly interviewed former offensive coordinators Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich to comply with the Rooney rule.

Then, instead of waiting for other coaches to finish the NFL Playoffs, the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel. On Thursday, Clark called out the Patriots organization for its actions.

“I think this kind of puts a light on the Rooney Rule, which, to me, the New England Patriots made a mockery of,” Clark said. “To interview Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich, two coaches who aren’t even in football right now, just to fulfill a quota. The Rooney Rule was put in place, so some of these minority coaches could get opportunities to get in front of some of the executives and some of these owners, that truly were looking to give the job to the best person.

NFL teams are entitled to hire who they feel is best for the coaching job, & at head coach I believe that’s moved beyond color. Now, it’s time to create better resume & career building opportunities for minority to combat nepotism.

The entire football world knew Jerod Mayo was… pic.twitter.com/0byLf5KZuU

— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) January 16, 2025

“Now, I want to make it clear: I believe we have moved to a point where organizations will hire the best person they feel for the job. But let’s not make coaches, who have worked their entire lives for this opportunity, be the token interview.”

Clark didn’t stop at criticizing the Patriots and the rule. He also provided a possible solution for his qualms.

“I think a better solution is for teams who want to skip the Rooney Rule, like the New England Patriots probably would have, because they wanted Mike Vrabel, allow them to hire someone on the lower level that reports directly to the head coach, reports to directly to the offensive coordinator, so they could get some of that tutelage that allows their resumes and their careers to build,” Clark said.

“When it was implemented initially, I believe it worked. …It has now run its course and become something that is a joke to NFL and NFL coaches, and more importantly, to the people it was supposed to help.”

The NFL began the 2024 campaign with a record-breaking nine minority head coaches. However, three of those coaches have since been fired.