Black NFL coaches lament hiring policies that fall short

By WILL GRAVES
AP Sports Writer

Veteran NFL coach Anthony Lynn designed a personal defense in response to the league policy that requires teams to interview minority candidates for their top jobs. While he appreciates the intent of the policy, Lynn, who is Black, long ago added his own amendment to it: As his star rose as one of the league’s top assistants in the mid-2010s, Lynn would only meet with teams to discuss a head coaching vacancy if they had already brought in at least one other minority candidate, something the so-called Rooney Rule didn’t require until 2021. Lynn says the policy has fallen short of its good intentions: There were three non-white head coaches when the rule went into effect in 2003; today, there are five.