Why is Jeff Saturday still the Colts interim coach? What is the Rooney Rule?
The Rooney Rule doesn’t apply to interim coaches, but the Colts’ official hiring of Saturday will have to comply with the rule.
When the Indianapolis Colts fired head coach Frank Reich, they had to look to an interim coach in the meantime. To the criticism of many, they went with a former player who had zero coaching experience beyond the high school level - Jeff Saturday. When Colts owner Jim Irsay introduced him on November 8, he said he hoped he’d be around for more than the next eight games. Saturday surprised many by winning his first game as coach, but went on to lose the next three, including the most recent, a 54-19 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
What is the Rooney Rule and why didn’t the Colts have to follow it when they hired Saturday?
The NFL’s workplace diversity committee has a rule called the Rooney Rule, which requires all NFL teams to interview “at least two diverse candidates from the Career Development Advisory Panel list, or a diverse candidate not currently employed by the club. Clubs must conduct an in-person interview with at least one external minority candidate for any GM or head coaching interview.”
When the Colts hired Saturday, they did not have to follow the Rooney Rule and that’s because he was hired as an interim head coach after Reich was fired. Though that will remain the case for the rest of the 2022 season and Saturday will stay on board, it will change once the NFL season ends. If the Colts want to keep Saturday on board for the 2023 season, they will have to first go through the interview process with other minority coaches.
“Once the season’s over, the position has to be declared vacant, and they have to comply with all the rules,” said Art Rooney, the NFL’s workplace diversity committee chair. “So as much as Coach Saturday might be a candidate, they still have to go through all the procedures and requirements to fill the position that any other club would have.”
Why doesn’t the Rooney Rule apply to interim coaches in the NFL?
Rooney explained that when teams are looking for an interim coach, it’s typically a bit more of a desperate situation, and so some rules that would otherwise be in place, are not required for this special case.
“We have talked about interim coach hirings in our committee, and we just decided that in terms of requiring Rooney Rule interviews and all of the hiring requirements we now have in place for the head coach that it’s just impossible to require that for an interim head coach,” Rooney said. “We don’t think there’s a lot we can about the interim coach situation. It’s just the timing that needs to apply to a situation like that just doesn’t allow for all of the policies to be enforced in that situation.”
Will the Colts hire Saturday for the 2023 season?
The Colts will have to do a full interview process, including interviewing minority candidates when they look for a coach for the 2023 season. Whether or not there will be minority candidates willing to interview remains to be seen. They will include Saturday in the process, and Saturday himself has said he’d like to stay on with the Colts.
“I’m looking forward to the interview process,” said Colts owner Jim Irsay. “I think Jeff’s a candidate, but there’s a lot of great candidates out there. I think there’s a lot of great candidates in college. I think the pool needs to be broadened somewhat more. There’s some great college coaches that may be capable. There’s some unknown coaches that may be capable.”
The Colts are now sitting at third place in the AFC South with a 4-8-1 record. They will play the Vikings in Minneapolis this Saturday, December 17.