How Boston – of all places – offers lessons for the NFL on hiring diversity

                            

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How Boston – of all places – offers lessons for the NFL on hiring diversity   February 8, 2026 By Colette A.M. Phillips

Over the past week, much of the sports focus nationally—and nearly all of it in New England—has been on the Super Bowl. But while excitement was building and we were busy planning our best 7-layer dips and other watch-party staples, the NFL found itself confronting a familiar and uncomfortable reality: Another head coach hiring cycle came and went, and only a single vacancy was filled by a person of color.

The ensuing media coverage and handwringing was predictable. What may be surprising to many is that Boston—a city hardly seen as a leading light on matters of race in recent decades—turns out to offer some sound lessons in how the NFL, or any organization grappling with these issues, can effectively address hiring diversity.

To its credit, the NFL – where a majority of players are Black -- has tried. Since 2003, the league has championed what’s come to be known as the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for vacant head coach positions.

This year had a surprisingly large number of vacancies – 10 teams parted ways with their coaches at the end of the season. After a flurry of activity to fill all the positions, however, no Black candidates were hired and only one candidate of color, Robert Saleh, the son of Lebanese immigrants, was tapped to lead a team.

The question now, as always, is whether the Rooney Rule’s mandated interviews with candidates of color are real or merely performative “check-the-box” exercises?

After 23 years, it’s clear that most head coach hiring decisions are effectively made before interviews ever begin, with the Rooney Rule simply regulating the most visible part of the process: interviews. What the rule, however well-intentioned, doesn’t address is the invisible part, where real trust is formed and decisions are shaped long before anyone sits down across a table. Boston has long grappled with this same challenge – but with some surprisingly positive outcomes.

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