Bill Text: NJ SR12 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges National Collegiate Athletic Association to adopt for college football the National Football League Rooney Rule requiring teams with head coaching vacancy to interview minority candidates for the position.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-12 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [SR12 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-SR12-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator RICHARD J. CODEY
District 27 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Urges National Collegiate Athletic Association to adopt for college football the National Football League Rooney Rule requiring teams with head coaching vacancy to interview minority candidates for the position.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
A Senate Resolution urging the National Collegiate Athletic Association to adopt for college football the National Football League Rooney Rule.
Whereas, Named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the National Football League's (NFL) "Rooney Rule" requires teams with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority candidate as part of the process to fill the vacancy; and
Whereas, Prior to the NFL's implementation of the rule in 2003, minority head coaches comprised just 6% of the head coaching positions in the NFL, and at the start of the 2006 season the number had jumped to 22%; and
Whereas, Although the NFL has seen an increase in the number of minorities hired as head football coaches, no such policy currently exists at the collegiate level, and a recent report released by the Black Coaches and Administrators portrays a grim picture concerning the number of minority head coaches hired in college football; and
Whereas, Out of 119 colleges and universities which participate in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), only six African Americans, one Latino, and one Pacific Islander were employed as head football coaches at the start of the 2008 season; and
Whereas, The recent firings of Ron Prince at Kansas State University and Ty Willingham at the University of Washington reduced the number of African American head coaches to four, which means that for a sport in which 50% of the players are African American, only 3.36% of the top jobs in college football are held by black coaches; and
Whereas, Adopting the "Rooney Rule" will greatly benefit college football programs by providing teams with a pool of talented, dedicated, and competitive head coach applicants that has gone virtually untapped, and will result in a leadership of college football programs that more adequately reflects the diversity of the student-athletes in those programs; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges the National Collegiate Athletic Association to adopt for college football the National Football League's "Rooney Rule" to require teams with a head football coaching vacancy to interview minority candidates for the position before filling the vacancy.
2. A duly authenticated copy of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested by the Secretary thereof, shall be transmitted to each member of the governing body of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
STATEMENT
This Senate resolution urges the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to adopt for college football the National Football League's (NFL) "Rooney Rule" to require teams with a head football coaching vacancy to interview minority candidates for the position before filling the vacancy.
Prior to the NFL's implementation of the rule in 2003, minority head coaches comprised just 6% of the head coaching positions in the NFL, and at the start of the 2006 season the number had jumped to 22%. No such policy currently exists at the collegiate level. Out of 119 colleges and universities which participate in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), only six African Americans, one Latino, and one Pacific Islander were employed as head football coaches at the start of the 2008 season. Moreover, the recent firings of two of those coaches reduced the number of African American head coaches to four, which means that for a sport in which 50% of the players are African American, only 3.36% of the top jobs in college football are held by black coaches.
Adopting the "Rooney Rule" will greatly benefit college football programs by providing teams with a pool of talented, dedicated, and competitive head coach applicants that has gone virtually untapped, and will result in a leadership of college football programs that more adequately reflects the diversity of the student-athletes in those programs.
