Bill Text: NJ SR55 | 2014-2015 | 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) 2014-03-24 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee [SR55 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-SR55-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator RICHARD J. CODEY
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
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
As introduced.
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 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 125 colleges and universities which participate in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), only 11 African Americans will be employed as head football coaches heading into the 2014 season, down from a high of 15 at the start of the 2012 season; and
Whereas, For a sport in which 50% of the players are African American, only 8.8% of the top jobs in college football will be held by black head coaches at the start of the 2014 season; 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. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate 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 125 colleges and universities which participate in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), only 11 African Americans will be employed as head football coaches heading into the 2014 season, down from a high of 15 at the start of the 2012 season. For a sport in which 50% of the players are African American, only 8.8% of the top jobs in college football will be held by black head coaches at the start of the 2014 season.
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.
