Anything that involves race instantly becomes a hotly-debated topic, and when it comes to the NFL, there is no one issue more directly related to race than the Rooney Rule, named after the late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the father of current primary owner Art Rooney II.
The Rooney Rule, instituted in 2003, mandated that teams interview at least one minority candidate for every head coaching vacancy. Minor adjustments have been made to the rule since then, but following multiple hiring cycles in which the population of minority head coaches have dwindled—it has remained at only four for a couple of years now—many advocates of the rule are pushing for further change.