With so much progress, is Rooney Rule still necessary?

TAMPA, Fla. -- To some black assistant coaches in the NFL, when Raheem Morris became coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it signified the hurdling of a major barrier, a barrier, they say, few people outside of the sport even knew existed.

Morris, who is African-American, became coach of the Buccaneers despite limited NFL coaching experience. Morris is just 32 years old and for much of his professional career he was a lower-level defensive assistant and only recently was named a coordinator.

Several black assistants say they can't remember a time when such an inexperienced African-American assistant was named a head coach. To them, Morris' advancement represented a significant shift -- one called it seismic -- in the hiring practices of the NFL.

One of the largest complaints of black assistant coaches for decades was that white assistants with limited backgrounds (some for years pointed to Steve Mariucci as an example) got head coaching jobs while blacks with limited experiences were routinely rejected. Blacks, these coaches said, mostly had to be dramatic over-achievers, like Tony Dungy, to receive head coaching chances.

Morris, to them, represented a change in this philosophy. In fact, these African-American assistants maintain, so much progress has been made in so many areas in the age-old problem of the lack of black coaches in the NFL that they began to seriously ponder a question.

Is the Rooney Rule, designed to increase the number of black head coaches, still needed?

"I never thought I'd say this in my lifetime," said a black assistant coach, "but the playing field is getting even faster than I thought was possible. We're getting to an equal point very quickly. I didn't think we'd be here for another 20 years."

We might have reached an incredible moment in time; we might have reached the point where the Rooney Rule is no longer required or could be eradicated within five years.

That's the message of several black assistants. Once skeptical of the rule, they believe it to be such a success that its requirement could be eliminated sooner rather than later. The assistants asked not to be identified.

The rule and reaction to it, like many things regarding race, remain highly emotional, controversial and thick with nuance. Some coaches interviewed think the rule will be needed for some time. They point to how just three years ago there were nine head coaching openings and only one was filled by an African-American (and that was Herm Edwards going from the New York Jets to the Kansas City Chiefs).

But even those skeptics admit to openly wondering how much longer the rule will exist because the progress in this area has occurred stunningly fast.

After only approximately five years, the rule has helped change the face of the league, and done so more rapidly than anyone ever expected to repair a shameful legacy in football.

"Anything that brings light to the circumstances and situations in terms of opportunity, it's a factor," said Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin about the rule. "It was a factor in me getting an opportunity. It's a factor for a lot of people getting the opportunity. I came into the league as a minority intern with the Cleveland Browns when I coached college football. ... I left that internship committed to coaching in the NFL, because it was such a positive experience.

"Me personally in terms of my skepticism of what potentially the Rooney Rule did for me, I can't tell you that I had a strong opinion about it one way or the other. I've always had a great deal of belief in my abilities, and I thought that if I continued to work and do good things, that eventually I would get my opportunity -- Rooney Rule or no. But I definitely see the usefulness of such a rule, and if nothing else, it keeps some debatable things in the public light, which is good."

The Rooney Rule was enacted following the league commissioning a study regarding the issue of diversity, or lack thereof, among NFL coaches, particularly head coaches. The rule requires at least one minority candidate to be interviewed when filling a head coaching position or risk being fined.

"The idea was to give an opportunity to African-Americans or other minorities to meet with owners and be interviewed and see what they could do," Steelers owner Dan Rooney said. "It's really worked. I have had the opportunity and met with owners and it worked out well."

The lack of black coaches has been an issue for decades but came to a head following a devastatingly thorough and embarrassing report to the NFL commissioned by the late Johnnie Cochran and attorney Cyrus Mehri. Part of their report described the NFL's record of hiring minorities as "dismal." The Rooney Rule was enacted soon after that.

What has amazed a number of black coaches across football is what has happened in the championship game. First, Dungy and Chicago's Lovie Smith faced each other in Super Bowl XLI. Now, this season, Tomlin is coaching in the game, meaning of the six total head coaches in the past three Super Bowls, three have been black.

When commissioner Roger Goodell was asked by reporters in June 2007 if Dungy and Smith being in the Super Bowl would lead to more opportunities for blacks, Goodell explained, "I think it will lead to greater opportunities, because the whole basis of the Rooney Rule was to make sure we had the best possible people in those positions. And whether it's coaching, for an office, or anything associated with the NFL, we want to have a sophisticated process that is open and diverse that will find the best possible candidate for those positions. These are two great examples and it's happening across the league and we're proud of it."

There's at least anecdotal proof that what Goodell said then is true. If the Steelers win, there would be two black Super Bowl champion coaches in three years.

Last season there were seven black head coaches while. In 2002, six percent of the head coaches were black. In 1980, according to numbers obtained by CBSSports.com, there were 14 total African-American coaches in all of football. That number was 186 in 2008.

Before the enacting of the Rooney Rule, in 2002, there were 154 total minority coaches.

The numbers are only part of the story, however. The most important change in the attitude of black assistants interviewed is that for the first time, a significant number of them feel they have a genuine chance to become head coaches. They believe owners are beginning to ignore ethnicity as a factor or, at least, quickly getting there.

The hiring of Morris was pointed to repeatedly by black assistants as a dramatic shift and proof of that point. The hiring of Tomlin was viewed somewhat similarly.

There seem to be four or five main reasons, according to the beliefs of some black assistants, for their optimism that the Rooney Rule soon might no longer be needed. They include:

1. African-American coaches are now given second chances more consistently. After getting fired, coaches like Dennis Green and Herm Edwards were rehired by other clubs.

2. Blacks are given opportunities to become coordinators more than ever before. Most head coaches come from those two positions.

3. In the past, young white coaches, like Jon Gruden, weren't penalized for being youthful but blacks were, assistants said. That has changed. Tomlin, for instance, is the youngest coach in Super Bowl history. He's 36.

4. Owners are copycats. They've seen the success of Dungy and Smith, eradicating, these coaches believe, the fright some had of blacks being the faces of their franchises.

5. Ownership is growing younger. Newer ownership blood isn't as affected (or intimidated) by issues of race.

How much overall progress has been made in this highly discussed issue is debatable. This isn't: Within the past several years, black coaches have made strides some believed wouldn't have occurred for decades.

The question is how much of the progress is simple coincidence, how much is societal progress in general and how much is it the teeth of the Rooney Rule having an impact. Some black coaches seem to think it's a combination of everything.

Tomlin is in the championship game and it's not a huge deal.

That in itself makes a dramatic statement.