The National Football League has launched an investigation into the Oakland Raiders’ hiring of new head coach Jon Gruden on whether the Rooney Rule was violated during the process per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.
This comes a day after the Fritz Pollard Alliance asked the NFL to investigate whether the rule on minority interviews was violated by the Raiders upon hiring Jon Gruden.
On Wednesday, Fritz Pollard Alliance counsel Cyrus Mehri and N. Jeremi Duru issued a statement expressing concern that owner Mark Davis came to an agreement with Gruden before the team interviewed any minority candidates. The last time team to violate the Rooney Rule were the Detroit Lions when they hired Steve Mariucci in 2003. The NFL fined then general manager Matt Millen $200 000 for breaking the rules.
After introducing Gruden as the team’s new coach on Tuesday, Davis said that he believed Gruden was “all-in” to take the job during a meeting on Christmas Eve. Davis fired Jack Del Rio a week later and the team officially hired Gruden on Jan. 6.
General manager Reggie McKenzie said that two minority candidates were interviewed before the announcement of Raiders hiring Gruden. The two candidates? Oakland tight ends coach Bobby Johnson and USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin.
