Retired Super Bowl and Big Ten coach says NFL still needs this contentious rule
Lovie Smith is on to a new part of his life, but he remains an active football follower, and what he sees on NFL sidelines remains mostly unchanged from when he coached for almost 30 years.
A beneficiary of the NFL’s often-discussed “Rooney Rule,” the former head coach of the Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, University of Illinois and Houston Texans does not believe the league is in a place to end a 23-year-old policy that is designed to help minority coaches.
“With the ‘Rooney Rule,’ what we need is more guys who look like me to be in positions of authority running football teams. If the ‘Rooney Rule’ is an avenue to do that, I am all in favor of it. But it has to be more than that,” Smith told the Star-Telegram the day he was inducted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame, on March 7 in Dallas.
“But in the end, they’re private companies, and they’re gonna normally do what they want to do. What I tried to do coming up through the league, I wanted to be the best version of myself, to put myself in a position where owners wanted to hire me; I just believe if you continue to do that, eventually, you’ll get an opportunity. I got three opportunities, so it can happen. Hopefully, more of it will happen in the future.”
Smith was the first Black head coach in the history of the Chicago Bears, a team he coached from 2004 to 2012. In 2005, Smith was the named the NFL Coach of the Year. In 2006, he led the Bears to the Super Bowl.
There’s a decent chance it does not happen without the Rooney Rule.
Why the Rooney Rule is being debated
The Rooney Rule is again under scrutiny after Florida Republican attorney general James Uthmeier sent NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a letter earlier this month calling for the policy to be scrapped. How very Ken Paxton of Mr. Uthmeier; creating some publicity by inserting himself in a place that has zero to do with his job.
Paxton is the Texas attorney general with a penchant for similar political theatrics.
The policy, named after the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dan Rooney, originally required NFL teams with head coaching vacancies to interview a minority candidate. The rule has been expanded that teams must interview two minority candidates for openings at head coach, general managers and the offensive and defensive coordinator jobs.
Uthmeier threatened to take action if the league does not change the policy by May 1.
“NFL teams and their fans don’t care about the race of the coaching staff,” Uthmeier said on a video he posted on his Twitter (now X) account. “They want a merit-based system that gives their team the best chance to win.”
Sounds like Mr. Uthmeier is unfamiliar with the coaching history of the Miami Dolphins; since Don Shula retired in 1995, they have hired a future Hall of Famer (Jimmy Johnson), the best coach in the modern era of college football (Nick Saban), and seven other dudes, including current Lions coach Dan Campbell, and they all combined to stink in South Beach.
This includes two minority coaches, Mike McDaniel and Brian Flores, the latter of whom sued the franchise and the NFL, alleging they discriminated against him based on race.
Uthmeier’s contention is that the Rooney Rule falls under the type of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies that have been aggressively repealed by the Trump administration. Uthmeier said the Rooney Rule violates Florida law.
In March last year, the University of Florida eliminated its DEI positions, and closed its “Office of the Chief Diversity Officer.”
Goodell has publicly defended the Rooney Rule after it was challenged by President Trump and adviser Stephen Miller last year.
Why Lovie Smith says the Rooney Rule is still needed
In February 2007, Smith’s Chicago Bears played Tony Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts, the first time the two head coaches in the Super Bowl were Black.
“It was a big deal. It was a big deal when Tony and I led our team to the Super Bowl for the first time. Whenever there’s something that’s happening for the first time, it’s a big thing,” Smith said.
For an aspiring Black coach, Dungy vs. Smith in the Super Bowl was tangible proof that it can happen.
During the NFL’s latest hiring coaching cycle, no Black coaches were hired. The current number of Black NFL head coaches is three — Todd Bowles (Buccaneers), DeMeco Ryans (Texans), and Aaron Glenn (New York Jets). There were eight Black general managers last season.
This disparity continues to hound a league where the majority of the players are Black, but the coaches and front office decision-makers are not.
“I look forward to a day when a guy of color is leading a team, and it’s not a big deal, but that’s not reality now,” Smith said. “There were times when there was about nine guys with my complexion in the NFL. Total. Now there are three.
“Whenever those numbers are off like that, me being a Black man, to me, you have to keep talking about it. It’s about opportunities. But opportunities just don’t start being a head football coach. It’s about opportunities of giving young Black men getting them to want to be in a profession, and then giving them an avenue to come up through the ranks. So I think we still need to talk about that.”
Cleary the attorney general of Florida disagrees.
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
