The Rooney Rule was created in 2002 when two head football coaches were fired. Those two football coaches are Tony Dungy and Dennis Green who both had successful careers as head football coaches. Both Dungy and Green are African Americans and civil rights leaders led by Johnnie Cochran felt there was a need to look into why there were very few minority coaches in the NFL, especially those who are just as successful as white head coaches. The importance of the Rooney Rule in the NFL is that from here on out every franchise has an obligation to interview at least one minority for their head coaching vacancy. All 32 NFL teams must accept the law and there are no exclusions to the rule. Diversity is a topic of discussion in the year 2017
