The NFL’s decision to pause its accelerator program, formerly a key component of the league’s comprehensive approach to inclusive hiring, stirs questions.
Here’s the biggest: In words and deeds, will the NFL’s stated commitment to diversity continue amid a climate hostile toward it?
The program – implemented in 2022 to connect qualified, diverse candidates in coaching and football operations with team owners and senior club executives – was scheduled to continue with an event during next week’s spring meeting in Eagan, Minnesota. The NFL plans to “reimagine the program” and reinstitute it in 2026, according to a statement to ESPN from Dasha Smith, the league’s chief administrative officer.
On its face, the program being put on hiatus could be viewed as a blow to the league’s diversity efforts despite commissioner Roger Goodell’s full-throated endorsement of them. During his annual pre-Super Bowl news conference in February, Goodell couldn’t have been clearer on his position about hiring at the club level, saying, “We think we’re better when we get different perspectives, people with different backgrounds. Whether they’re women or men or people of color, we make ourselves stronger and we make ourselves better. I think it’s something that will have a tremendous impact on this league for many, many years. We win on the field with the best talent, the best coaches, and I think the same is true off the field.”
Some longtime observers of the league’s diversity efforts believe the NFL will remain in the game. Count law professor N. Jeremi Duru among the optimists.
Kohjiro Kinno/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
In a phone interview with Andscape, Duru, a professor of sports law at American University in Washington, D.C., said he sees reason to believe the NFL will continue to walk the talk on diversity.
“Time will tell, obviously, but I believe they still are [committed],” said Duru, who’s also the author of the definitive book on the creation of the Rooney Rule, Advancing The Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL.
“They’ve been consistent over the course of the last several months, saying that diversity is important to the values of the league. They’re not following a trend [in corporate America]. They’ve said that it’s important because it’s the right thing to do, that it’s important as a bottom-line matter, and that the league is better because of it.”
But make no mistake, Duru added, the NFL faces strong headwinds on its present course.
“It’s definitely a difficult climate,” he said. “And we’ve seen over the course of the last several months that many, many entities have aggressively stepped back from their commitments, and we’ve seen other entities soften their commitments to diversity and inclusion … those values.
“At the same time, we’ve seen the league reiterate its commitment. With this opportunity it has to restructure this program, this is a perfect opportunity to display the continued resonance of that commitment within the league.”
Following the lead of the administration of President Donald Trump, many corporations have dismantled their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. On Goodell’s watch, the NFL has made significant strides in the hiring of women and high-ranking officials of color in both football and business operations, and the accelerator program aimed to address an imbalance in the hiring process is present throughout the 32-team league.
A common refrain among many Black NFL employees who have interviewed for top-tier positions is that they rarely – if ever – interact with decision-makers before the processes begin, whereas team owners often are much more familiar with their white counterparts’ professional and personal backgrounds. That created yet another impediment to the upward mobility of diverse employees, NFL officials acknowledged, in a league that continues to struggle in its stated attempt to have a truly inclusive workplace from the front office to the field.
By any criteria, however, the accelerator program in its previous form wasn’t a smashing success, having produced only one general manager and one head coach.
Former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon joined the franchise after meeting Titans principal owner Amy Adams Strunk in connection with the program. And although proponents of the program cite the participation of New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, Glenn’s success formerly as the Detroit Lions’ defensive playcaller, his charisma and his strong ties to the Jets (he was both a player for the team and a scout under club owner Woody Johnson) likely are the primary reasons for his ascent to the top rung of the coaching ladder.
AP Photo/George Walker IV
Given the program’s results and Goodell’s insistence that inclusive hiring is good for the NFL’s bottom line, Rod Graves also is focused on the bigger picture.
Graves, the leader of the group that advises the NFL on matters of inclusive hiring, sees an opportunity amid change.
“I personally hope the NFL will see fit to keep [a retooled version of the program],” he wrote in a text message to Andscape. “However, like any initiative before it, the program must evolve and establish a clear delineation between its effectiveness and its measurable outcomes. Without that clarity, it’s only a matter of time before candidates and [team] owners begin to question its return on investment.”
After not receiving the return on its investment it hoped for, the NFL has scrapped the accelerator program for something new. The league’s employees of color are eagerly awaiting what comes next, which will tell them a lot.