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President Biden weighed into the controversy surrounding diversity in the NFL’s coaching ranks in an interview that aired Sunday, saying the league has not lived up to the standard it committed to in hiring more Black or minority head coaches.
Biden specifically echoed comments made by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday, who contended that the NFL “won’t tolerate discrimination.“
“The commissioner pointed out, they haven’t lived up to what they committed to. They haven’t lived up to being open about hiring more minorities to run teams,” Biden said in the interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt. “Goodell says they’re gonna take a look at whether they can meet the standard. And the standard was set by someone who said this is something we should do.”
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the debt ceiling during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 4 in Washington.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Biden said the NFL, because of its broad influence, should be held to a “reasonable standard,” when it comes to diversity issues.
Roughly 70% of players in the NFL are people of color, though Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers is currently the only Black head coach in the league.
Ron Rivera of the Washington Commanders and Robert Saleh of the New York Jets are the other minority head coaches in the NFL. Rivera’s parents were Puerto Rican and Mexican and Saleh is of Lebanese descent and a practicing Muslim.
“Think about it. The whole idea that a league that is made up of so many athletes of color, as well as so diverse, that there’s not enough African American qualified coaches to quote, ‘to manage,’ these NFL teams, it just seems to me that it’s a standard that they’d want to live up to,” Biden said. “It’s not a requirement of law, but it’s a requirement I think of some generic decency.”
The issue in diversity was ignited in recent weeks following a class-action racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and three teams by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who is Black.
FILE – Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, center, talks to down judge David Oliver (24) during the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, in New Orleans.
(AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)
Flores claimed to receive “sham” interviews while seeking a job with the New York Giants and Denver Broncos and alleged he was only being interviewed by teams so they could satisfy the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for certain top jobs – like the head coach.
On Wednesday, Goodell noted that the NFL will look to see if any policies need to be changed following another offseason where the number of minority coaches has not increased.
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Biden was later asked by Holt on his Super Bowl pick. The president noted he loves Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, but that the Los Angeles Rams will be “hard to beat.”
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report
