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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Mike Tomlin is one of the longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL, entering his 16th season with the Steelers.
During that time, he's seen other minority head coaches come and go. What he hasn't seen is any real change in the NFL's hiring practices, despite plenty of talk about getting more minorities in senior positions in a league that is heavily populated with minority players.
"I haven't been in any discussions and, no, I don't have any level of confidence that would lead me to believe things are going to be better," Tomlin said Monday at the annual NFL meetings here at The Breakers Resort when asked if anyone at the league level has asked for his input in how to approach minority hirings. "I'm more of a show-me guy than a guy who sits around and talks about things."
The NFL's minority hiring practices took center stage again in the latest head coaching hiring cycle when there were nine head coaching openings and only two -- the Dolphins and Texans -- were filled by minority candidates. Mike McDaniels was hired in Miami to replace Brian Flores, while Lovie Smith emerged late as the replacement for David Culley.
But both Flores and Culley are minority coaches, meaning the NFL still has just five minority head coaches -- Tomlin, Smith, McDaniels, Ron Rivera (Commanders) and Robert Saleh (Jets).
To that point, the NFL announced some new rules on hiring practices Monday that come at the recommendation of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee chaired by Steelers president Art Rooney II.
Those include adopting a resolution that, beginning in the 2022 season, all teams must have a minority or female offensive assistant coach, supporting the inclusion of minority investors in all new ownership groups and also now including women as part of any compliance with the Rooney Rule for minority hiring already in place.
Much of this is in response to the lawsuit filed by Flores after the latest head coaching hiring cycle.
Flores filed a civil lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins, Giants and Broncos in regard to those hiring practices when it became apparent he was not going to get another head coaching job, despite leading the Dolphins to back-to-back winning seasons in 2020 and 2021.
Tomlin, who is the winningest minority coach in NFL history with a 154-85-2 record, said he reached out to Flores throughout the process. And when it became apparent Flores was not going to get another head-coaching position, Tomlin offered him a spot on his coaching staff.
Tomlin said he initially reached out to Flores, who was an assistant coach on four Super Bowl championship teams with the Patriots, when he was fired by the Dolphins.
"I wanted to stay close to Brian when his legal issues started. I didn’t want him to think he was on an island. From a coaching fraternity standpoint, I owed him that. I was in a position to provide that," Tomlin said. "That started our interactions and conversations. Over the course of those discussions, particularly when it became evident he was not going to get a head job, I think the natural discussion was had. It doesn’t require a lot of time to come to the realization that you could use a Brian Flores on your staff."
Flores was hired by Tomlin as senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach. He'll assist in a number of ways, much the same way Teryl Austin, who was elevated to defensive coordinator when Keith Butler retired at the end of the season, did in the previous three seasons when he was senior defensive assistant.
"There’s so many ways he’s going to help us and help me, in particular," Tomlin said. "I love sharpening my sword on his and gaining a perspective that his experiences provide, that wise counsel. We’re talking a myriad of things, whether it’s calendar, taking care of players, acquisition and evaluation of talent. It’s been fun to have him, and his contributions are going to be significant."
That's why Tomlin's hiring of Flores went beyond just helping a minority coach who was in a tough situation. Flores has a proven track record of winning, going back to his days as a defensive assistant with the Patriots.
The hiring also was a no-brainer for Steelers president Rooney.
"It’s one of the things that makes me most proud about being part of our organization," Tomlin said. "To have an opportunity to impact the game in a positive way, to impact society in a positive way. It’s continually an honor to be part of something the Rooney family has started and led for a long time before my existence here."
But despite the league putting rules in place to help or incentivize the hiring of minority coaches, it remains an issue for the NFL.
The NFL has seen an increase in the number of people of color in all coaching positions from 35 percent in the 2020 season to 39 percent in the 2021 season. There also are a record number of minority defensive coordinators, 15 in all, going into the 2022 season. The league has seen an increase in minority general managers, from five to seven and assistant general managers, from three to six.
In addition, there are now 12 women coaches in the NFL currently on staffs.
"In general, we have positives and negatives in terms of the hiring cycle," Rooney said Monday. "We've seen progress over the last couple of years, certainly in the number of minorities that are interviewing for senior positions in the league as increased in the last couple of years. We have seen progress at the GM level. We've seen progress among the coordinators.
"Obviously, we have not seen the kind of progress we'd like to see on the head coaching front. We've been focusing on that effort and how we can improve our processes."
