The NFL's lack of minority coaches has once again become a hot-button topic following the recent hires of new Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and new Panthers coach, Matt Rhule. Despite the existence of the "Rooney Rule," a rule that requires league teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs, there are only two African American head coaches employed by NFL teams. 

Marvin Lewis, a longtime NFL coach who is currently serving as an advisor for Arizona State's football team, recently interviewed for the Cowboys' previously vacant position before the team elected to hire McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl during his 13-year run as head coach of the Packers. Lewis, during a recent appearance on ESPN's "Golic and Wingo", was asked to reflect on how his interview process went with the Cowboys. 

"I felt good about the process," said Lewis, the Cincinnati Bengals head coach from 2003-18 who won a Super Bowl as the Ravens' defensive coordinator in 2000. "I've had a relationship with Stephen Jones for quite a bit. Obviously, I had not spent that much time around (Jerry Jones). 

"I felt good about the process. I've said this many times, when people go into these situations, they have an outline of what they're looking for. Maybe they take a little deeper dive and wanna know some things about other people, and maybe that was the case. 

"But that's not the problem. There's a lot bigger problems than myself that you were speaking about. But I felt good about things there."

Lewis, who said that the league had a conference last offseason to discuss the lack of coaching minorities in the NFL, addressed the main challenges minority coaches face when interviewing for NFL positions. 

"The decision makers ... whether it be GM's, etc., are gonna kinda favor people they know that way, and they don't know the minority coaches as well," Lewis said. "And I think that's the one thing and the same thing from the top up, generating more opportunities for young minority coaches to continue to move up and do things."

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Lewis, shown here with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, hopes that more opportunities become available for minority coaches moving forward.  USA Today

Lewis also said that minority coaches have also faced inconsistent expectations during the interview process. 

"A lot of times, what I've heard from people that I know that are very good coaches: 'Well, we're gonna go this direction because even though you're the coordinator, you're not the play-caller.' And yet, the rules seem to change in other instances. So that's another issue, that things seem to change from time to time that way with what the qualifications supposedly are."

Lewis said that one reason for the lack of minority head coaches is that few minority coaches are getting the opportunity to break into the NFL as position coaches. Lewis added that, because of challenges minority coaches can face when applying for NFL positions, some qualified minority coaches are hesitant to throw their hat in the ring when an opportunity presents itself. 

"I heard from a very prominent collegiate coach who's afraid to take the process; he's afraid to take the leap," Lewis said. "And that, to me, says a mouthful about things. Whether the emotional involvement and so forth to get involved with this and not obtain the position."

While he feels that he was given a fair opportunity during his interview process with the Cowboys, Lewis clearly feels that has not been the case for many minority coaches. And while NFL teams are free to hire whoever they want, Lewis hopes that more teams are more open to creating opportunities for qualified minority coaches moving forward. 

"No one is gonna tell (NFL teams) who to hire," Lewis said. "But if we can just somehow open the process a bit more and provide more opportunities."