Pittsburgh Steelers’ Jim Rooney joins UNE class to talk NFL industry, racial equity

Students in Sports Governance, taught by Aimee Vlachos, Ed.D., CPRP, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Business within the School of Professional Programs, were visited by a special guest on Monday, Feb. 7.

Jim Rooney — a business owner, public speaker, author, and the son of the late Dan Rooney, a longtime chair of the Pittsburgh Steelers who pioneered better equity hiring practices within the National Football League (NFL) — joined Vlachos’s class remotely via Zoom.

In the talk, Rooney discussed his role as a current owner of the Steelers organization. He also touched on the subjects of sports policy development, diversity and equity within the NFL, and the “Rooney Rule,” the league’s policy that requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching positions and other senior football operations jobs.

Established in 2003 and named after the late Dan Rooney, the rule requires every team to interview at least two external minority candidates for open head coaching positions.

The rule is currently the subject of public interest following a lawsuit by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. Flores claims he was subjected to a “sham interview” for a vacant head coaching position with the New York Giants, stating he found out prior to the interview the team already hired another candidate, who is white.

Not speaking directly to the case, but about the Rooney Rule in today’s hiring practices, Jim Rooney told students he is concerned that hiring practices in the NFL are not being conducted appropriately.

“You can have all the types of good policies that are designed to effectuate positive outcomes in companies, but you can’t legislate ethics,” he said to the class. “If people don’t follow through on policies, and if you don’t have enforcement consequences, then you get to a point where the governance side is ineffectual and people feel humiliated.”

He went on to say that, historically, minority candidates have fewer opportunities in the NFL. According to CNN, only one of 28 head coaches employed in the NFL is Black, despite the fact that about 70% of the league’s players are Black.

“That’s bad for the world and bad for football,” he stated. “It’s time to start considering the human impact we have on the policies that we set.”

Rooney went on to take questions from students, like Joe Leonatti (Sports Management, ’24), who said the Zoom discussion was valuable for him as a student looking to work in the sports industry.

“It was really eye-opening to hear Jim's perspective on football and equality, as it's not every day you get to talk to a team owner,” Leonatti remarked. “I also learned how professional and caring the Steelers organization is with their players and their employees. Something that Jim said that stuck with me was to start out in minor league sports as you will get to learn everything about the organization.”

Tyler Calhoun (Sports Management, ’24) echoed Leonatti's sentiment.

“The ability to talk to someone of that much power in a field I strive to be in one day was an experience I definitely won’t forget any time soon,” he said. “Hearing how the Rooney Rule could change not only the sporting industry, but the world as a whole, was fascinating. Jim has many different thoughts about diversity within sports that few of us would even think about.”

Vlachos said Rooney’s talk was a great opportunity for her students to discuss policy development in sport and its impact.

“It was amazing for students in Sports Governance to have the opportunity to talk to Jim Rooney about the Rooney Rule while it is being debated in the media in terms of its effectiveness in professional sports,” Vlachos reflected.