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Roger Goodell: I bear responsibility, along with NFL teams, for shortcomings on head coach diversity

Josh Peter
USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he bears personal responsibility for the league’s  shortcomings in hiring minority head coaches.

“Yes, I do bear that responsibility, as well as all our clubs,’’ said Goodell, who is in his 16th season as the league’s commissioner, on Wednesday during his annual Super Bowl news conference.

Goodell said the league will review its policies on diversity and inclusion and would consider an complete overhaul. But he offered no specifics and said as of now he has no solution.

“You don’t take anything off the table,'' he said. "So if it requires an overall, you do it. If it requires changes in other areas, you do it. Obviously we haven’t been successful to date, so we’ve got to look at every one of those alternatives.''

The 32-team league has five minority head coaches. Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Lovie Smith, recently hired by the Houston Texans, are Black  and Mike McDaniel, recently hired by the Miami Dolphins, is multiracial. The Washington Commanders' Ron Rivera is the only Latino head coach in the NFL, and the New York Jets' Robert Saleh is Arab American. 

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addresses the media on February 09, 2022 at the NFL Network's Champions Field at the NFL Media Building on the SoFi Stadium campus in Inglewood, California.

Several questions from the media stemmed from the proposed class-action lawsuit recently filed by former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices. 

Initially, the league said the lawsuit filed against the NFL, Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos was “without merit.’’ Saturday, however, Goodwell sent a memo to the all NFL teams stating efforts to diversify the league's coaching ranks have produced "unacceptable" results and added that the league will look into allegations of tanking.

Among other allegations, Flores said Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per game to lose on purpose.

The league first responded to Flores' claims by saying they were "without merit" before saying it would investigate the allegations. 

“I think the initial reaction was regarding the legal claims themselves and not really what we would say the experiences of what Coach Flores was going through,''' Goodell said. "And that’s what’s I’m more interested in.''

Goodell also said the league would "love to see a diverse owner'' to buy the Denver Broncos, which Goodell said he expects to be sold before the 2022 season. He also said he has met twice with media executive Byron Allen and other Black prospective NFL owners. 

“We would love to see a diverse owner of the team, whether that’s a person or color or a female or a Black man,'' Goodell said. "We think that would be a really a positive step for us and something that we’ve encouraged.''

The NFL has never had a Black majority team owner. Its only minority owners are the Jacksonville Jaguars' Shad Khan, who is Pakistani-American, and Kim Pegula, who is Korean American and owns the Buffalo Bills with her husband, Terry Pegula. 

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