Ken Gormley, president of Duquesne University recently moderated a webinar about the impact of the NFL’s Rooney Rule and its contemporary relevance.
Duquesne University presented the timely webinar co-sponsored by the Atlantic 10 (A-10) commission on racial equity, diversity and inclusion (DEI). Gormley was joined by La Salle University athletic director Brian Baptiste (Gormley’s co-chair on the commission), attorney and sports law authority N. Jeremi Duru and Jim Rooney, son of the late Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers for which the Rooney Rule was named. Dan Rooney was an alum of Duquesne.
“The Rooney Rule and What’s Next: Equity and Access in Athletics and Beyond” began with a history lesson on the Rooney Rule, which the National Football League established in 2003 to address diversity in the hiring of head coaches. The rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate when looking to fill head coaching and general manager positions.
“When we had our first two commission meetings…there is no question that the central issue on the minds of the ADs and other athletic administrators from the 14 universities [in the A-10] was how do we begin applying that to us in a meaningful and bold way,” said Gormley. “I see this [webinar] as the first of a series of conversations where very much the goal is to get to results.
“Meeting with the A-10 presidents and discussing this commission and the work that we’re going to be doing, there is widespread buy-in in terms of all of the university presidents wanting to take some more creative and impactful steps than we’ve ever taken before,” he added. “This is going to be teeing up a lot of concrete discussions on the topic.”
Some of Dan Rooney’s early steps toward diversity included drafting players from historically Black colleges and universities. That diversity gave the Steelers a competitive edge. When he was approached about diversity in coaching, he paid attention.
In sharing some of the history of the Rooney Rule, Jim Rooney said that his father had a definitive plan; listed to the opinions and information of others; and he executed the plan.
