Changes designed to enhance opportunities for minorities to get executive, head coaching and coordinator positions were passed on Tuesday by NFL owners. However, a plan to reward clubs that hire minority candidates as head coaches or general managers with improved draft-pick positioning was tabled after meeting with some hefty criticism. That means the plan will now be considered at a later date. In the measures that did pass, all clubs will now be required to interview at least two minority candidates from outside the organization for head coach vacancies; at least one minority candidate for any of the three coordinator vacancies; and at least one external minority candidate for senior football operations or general manager positions. The Rooney Rule has been expanded to apply to a wide range of executive positions. Teams must now include minorities and/or female applicants in the interviewing processes for other senior team positions such as human resources, sales, marketing, IT and security. The league office will also adhere to these requirements. “The NFL is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which I believe is critical to our continued success,” said commissioner Roger Goodell, who before the Super Bowl acknowledged that the Rooney Rule was falling short of its intent. “While we have seen positive strides in our coaching ranks over the years aided by the Rooney Rule, we recognize, after the last two seasons, that we can and must do more. The policy changes made today are bold and demonstrate the commitment of our ownership to increase diversity in leadership positions throughout the league.” Passed in 2003 and named after the late Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who championed the push for more NFL diversity, the Rooney Rule has fallen short of its goal in recent years. There currently are four minority coaches and two general managers in a league in which 72% of the players are from minority backgrounds. After the 2018 season, eight head coaches lost their jobs. Only one opening was filled by a minority candidate, Brian Flores in Miami. Following last season, five jobs came open and one minority, Ron Rivera, was hired, by Washington. The owners have another conference call on 28 May, but that is designed to deal with rules, including dumping the video review of pass interference after a one-year experiment that many in the NFL believed caused more headaches than solutions. “I did not feel like it worked,” said Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee. “We put [replay HQ in] New York in some really tough, tough spots. Whatever New York did, someone was going to criticize it on the other side. It was a no-win situation. That had always been the fear and was why we were scared, or I should say hesitant, to make those fouls subject to review. We didn’t make a recommendation to have a continuation of that after the one-year trial, so the rule dies on its own accord.”