Jim Irsay dismisses Rooney Rule criticism of Jeff Saturday hire

INDIANAPOLIS — The news that the Colts hired former Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday to be the team’s interim coach despite his lack of experience as a professional coach prompted NFL media around the country to suggest that the hire shined a light on the league’s issues hiring minority coaches.

Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL in February, a lawsuit later joined by other Black coaches, and among the issues raised was the promotion of unqualified white candidates over minority candidates with more experience.

Colts owner Jim Irsay dismissed those criticisms in Monday night’s press conference introducing Saturday as head coach, citing his record of hiring Black head coaches in Indianapolis.

“Tony Dungy, being in the Hall of Fame as the first African-American coach, and being followed by Jim Caldwell,” Irsay said. “When Tony took a leave of absence for a very unfortunate family situation, Jim Caldwell was our interim head coach. It was interim, just like this is.”

The hiring of Saturday is not in violation of the Rooney Rule, a rule long championed by Dungy himself, which requires at least two minority candidates to be interviewed for each head coaching opening and at least one minority candidate to be interview in person.

The rule does not apply to interim hirings.

“The rule does not apply to an interim head coach during the season,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email to the IndyStar. “It does apply after the conclusion of the team’s season. The club would have to fulfill the rule before hiring a full-time coach.”

Irsay also pushed back on the questions about Saturday’s qualifications for the job.

“He is fully experienced enough,” Irsay said. “He is fully capable. He is extremely smart. He’s extremely competitive. He understands the game.”

Irsay vowed to fulfill the terms of the Rooney Rule in the team’s search for a long-term head coach at the end of the season, although he did also express a desire for Saturday to win the job outright. A decision Irsay, of course, has the final say over.

One of the criticisms levied at the Colts on Monday was that Saturday’s hiring gave him an advantage minority candidates will not have.

“It’s an interim head coaching job,” Irsay said. “It lines up with the Rooney Rule. At the end of the season, there will be a full process of reviewing a permanent head coach, which we will have an interview process for. This is for eight games, hopefully more.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the league’s problems with diversity in a February memo obtained by CBS Sports, and according to USA Today, four white head coaches — including fired former Colts coach Frank Reich — advocated for the league to increase the hiring of minority candidates in head coaching positions.

There are currently seven NFL head coaches who are minorities.

Every coaching decision teams have made since the Flores lawsuit, and the NFL’s subsequent comments about the lack of diversity in head coaching hires, has been examined in light of that discussion.

Irsay questioned the validity of any of those discussions in relation to the Colts’ hiring of Saturday.

“There is no problem or perception, except that some of you guys make a problem or perception, but you need hits, so you’ve got to do it,” Irsay said. “I understand. I’d do the same thing. I was a broadcast journalism major, too, so I mean, look, it’s something where there’s always going to be a lot created and a lot of words said. I don’t know, are you guys ever held accountable? Do your editors ever bring you in and say, you wrote that stuff, it was all wrong, you’re fired. We get held accountable, that’s for sure. It’s something that we’re following the Rooney Rule to a tee, and I really look forward to the interview process at the end of the season.”

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