NFL says Raiders complied with Rooney Rule; watchdog group ‘strongly’ disagrees

OAKLAND, Calif. — The NFL announced Friday it has determined the Raiders complied with the Rooney Rule in their hiring of coach Jon Gruden, concluding a roughly weeklong investigation and prompting swift disagreement from the organization that requested the review.

Raiders owner Mark Davis signed Gruden to a 10-year, $100 million contract this month. His hiring was first reported on Dec. 31, before the club interviewed two minority candidates for the position.

“The NFL confirmed today that its review of the hiring of Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden complied with the Rooney Rule and that the club conducted bona fide interviews with minority candidates as part of its search process,” the league said in a statement. “The Rooney Rule requires NFL clubs consider at least one minority candidate for the head coach position as part of the hiring process before extending an offer to any coach.”

The Fritz Pollard Alliance said in a statement it “strongly” disagrees with the findings, citing three points of contention.

First, while not doubting that general manager Reggie McKenzie interviewed the minority candidates in good faith, the group alleges Davis maintained a singular focus on Gruden during the process. Thus, other candidates were interviewing for “second place,” it said.

The Raiders interviewed USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin and then-Raiders tight ends coach Bobby Johnson before announcing Gruden’s hiring Jan. 6. The FPA made no mention of Johnson but said that Martin, to date, hadn’t been considered a serious candidate for an NFL head coach job at this stage in his career. Johnson no longer is on the Raiders’ staff; Gruden hired Frank Smith to coach tight ends.

Lastly, the FPA cited a comment Davis made on Jan. 9 following Gruden’s introductory news conference. Davis told reporters that he would have retained coach Jack Del Rio, whom he fired on Dec. 31 minutes after the season finale and months after a four-year extension in February, if not for the belief Gruden would replace him.

“We believe the facts overwhelmingly point in the other direction,” the FBA’s statement said in response to the NFL’s conclusion. “In his enthusiasm to hire Jon Gruden, Raiders owner Mark Davis failed to fulfill his obligation under the Rule and should step forward and acknowledge he violated the Rule. … The NFL broke ground when it created the Rooney Rule (in 2003), but it made the wrong call in refusing to penalize Mark Davis in this instance.

“Davis crossed the line, and we are disappointed in the League’s decision. The Rooney Rule and all of the League’s equal opportunity efforts need to be strengthened. We have called for meetings with the League to ensure that a process like this never happens again.”

In 2003, the NFL fined the Detroit Lions $200,000 for violating the Rooney Rule when hiring Steve Mariucci. The league has not found a club to be incompliant since. It is believed Davis, if determined to have violated the Rooney Rule, would have faced at least a $500,000 fine as discipline.

When conducting its review, the league interviewed Davis, Gruden, McKenzie and other personnel it deemed relevant to the matter, a spokesman said.

Davis said at Gruden’s introductory news conference that he pursued Gruden for six years. At a meeting in Tampa, Florida, leading up to the Raiders’ Nov. 5 game against the Miami Dolphins, Davis said that he first gained a sense Gruden was ready to leave the ESPN broadcasting booth and return to coaching. Davis added that on Christmas Eve, during a meeting in Philadelphia before a “Monday Night Football” game against the Eagles, he gained a sense from Gruden he was “all in.”

This conversation helped lead to Del Rio’s firing and some newfound stability. Gruden will be quarterback Derek Carr’s fourth head coach and fourth play caller in five career seasons.

The Raiders have a longstanding reputation as a champion of opportunity for underrepresented people in the NFL. It’s the very sort of tradition the FPA has worked to culminate across the league. The Pro Football Hall of Fame identifies Tom Flores as the first Hispanic-American quarterback in NFL history, the second Hispanic-American head coach in NFL history and the first such head coach to win a Super Bowl.

In 1989, Art Shell became the first African-American head coach in modern NFL history. Eight years later, Amy Trask became the first female CEO in NFL history. In 2006, Shell was hired again as head coach. Davis hired McKenzie, who is African-American, in 2012. Davis’ father, Al, was responsible for the other coaching and front office hires.

More Raiders: Follow all of our Raiders coverage online at reviewjournal.com/Raiders and @NFLinVegas on Twitter.

Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.