The Super Bowl may mark the end of the 2025-2026 NFL season. However, the offseason is still a busy period in which pundits, fans and others will continue talking about the key stories of the previous year. They will also be looking ahead to the 2026-2027 season with anticipation. For now, the topic on most people’s minds is the recent head coaching hiring cycle.

A Total of 10 New Head Coaches Were Hired

In the several weeks following the end of the regular season in January, seven head coaches were fired. The Tennessee Titans and New York Giants fired their head coaches during the regular season. Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stepped down in lieu of being terminated.

Several big names were let go including John Harbaugh from the Baltimore Ravens and Sean McDermott from the Buffalo Bills. Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins and Pete Caroll of the Las Vegas Raiders were also let go despite having success in previous seasons.

Cleveland terminated Kevin Stefanski despite winning coach of the year honors and leading the Browns to the playoffs twice during his tenure there. He was later hired by the Atlanta Falcons after they fired coach Raheem Morris. Arizona rounds out the list of teams who fired their head coach this winter.

No Black Coaches Were Hired

It was somewhat surprising that the Ravens and Bills moved on from John Harbaugh and Sean McDermott. It was also surprising to see Mike McDaniel remove himself from contention for the Cleveland and Buffalo jobs.

However, what most are already talking about is the fact that not a single Black candidate was hired to fill any of the 10 existing openings. Going into 2026, there will be only three Black head coaches in the NFL. Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets and DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans are those three men.

This isn’t to suggest that there wasn’t any interest in minority coaches over the past several weeks. In fact, Robert Saleh was hired to be the Tennessee Titans coach while Minnesota Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores was a rumored contender for many of the available jobs.

What may be most surprising is that Saleh was the only minority hired despite the presence of the Rooney Rule. This rule was put into place to ensure that minority candidates are interviewed any time there is a vacancy for head coach or other top front office jobs.

The Rooney Rule Explained

The rule was implemented in 2003 after Tony Dungy and Dennis Green were both fired despite a track record of success at the head coach level. Dungy would go on to win a Super Bowl as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2006 while Green would become head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2004 to 2006.

A study was commissioned that showed that Black head coaches were held to higher standards than their white colleagues. In an effort to provide opportunities to minority coaches, Steelers owner Dan Rooney proposed the rule that would bear his name.

At the time, teams with head coaching vacancies were required to interview at least one minority candidate before a hiring decision could be made. Over time, the rule has evolved so that minority candidates must be interviewed for all jobs considered to be part of senior football operations.

Currently, the rule states that at least one member of a team’s coaching staff must be a minority. Furthermore, from 2022, the rule requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for all head coaching jobs and most senior football operations jobs before a hiring decision can be made.

Criticisms of the Rooney Rule

The Rooney Rule only applies to teams looking to hire head coaches. However, some say that it should be expanded to include offensive and defensive coordinator positions. In many cases, head coaches are former coordinators who are hired based on their work in those roles.

This may be especially effective on the offensive side of the ball as many teams prefer to hire offensive coordinators to be head coaches. Of course, there is a case to be made that teams would treat these interviews much like they treat Rooney Rule interviews for head coaching positions.

In other words, they would find minorities willing to interview but who have no real chance of getting the job. In the past, teams would interview position coaches on their own teams who had little to no experience in roles that would prepare them to be head coaches.

Read more: NFL Historical: Greatest Coaches in Super Bowl History

Other Explanations for Lack of Minority Hiring

Brian Flores is widely respected as a top coordinator in the league and is expected to draw interest as a head coach. However, Flores has been described as difficult to work with and is currently suing the league for discrimination. He is also reportedly being paid $6 million to remain with the Vikings, which is a sign of respect even if he isn’t running the team. Mike McDaniel, who is biracial, may have been hired as a head coach had any of the available jobs interested him.

The NFL’s hiring practices have been under scrutiny for decades, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. Fortunately for the league, fans generally care more about what happens on the field, so it’s unlikely to result in a drop in ratings or ticket sales.