J Sports Econom. 2010 Sep 08;12(2):127-142. doi: 10.1177/1527002510379641.

Has the NFL's Rooney Rule Efforts "Leveled the Field" for African American Head Coach Candidates?.

Journal of sports economics

Janice Fanning Madden, Matthew Ruther

PMID: 21572578 PMCID: PMC3092443 DOI: 10.1177/1527002510379641

Abstract

Madden (2004) and Madden and Ruther (2009) provide evidence that African American National Football League (NFL) head coaches significantly out-performed their white counterparts between 1990 and 2002. They conclude that this evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that African Americans had to be better coaches than whites in order to be hired as a head coach in the NFL. In 2002, the NFL promulgated the Rooney Rule requiring NFL teams to interview a minority candidate when appointing new head coaches, as well as other affirmative efforts. This paper analyzes whether the performance advantage of African American head coaches has been eliminated in the time since the Rooney Rule's affirmative efforts have been in effect. The paper also examines racial differentials in performance in other NFL coaching positions that were less affected by Rooney Rule affirmative efforts, finding no similar time trends in performance differentials by race.

Publication Types

• Journal Article

Grant support

• T32 AG000177/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States
• T32 AG000177-20/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States
• T32 AG000177-21/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States