NFL Rules for Interviewing Assistant Coaches

The National Football League seeks to protect the integrity of the game and its member teams by putting in place rules regarding one team's contact with another team's assistant coaches for the purpose of setting up job interviews. The distraction to a team when its coaches are interviewing for jobs elsewhere can be immense, so the NFL limits the type of contact and the timing of that contact.

  1. The Rooney Rule

    • The NFL has a policy in place that seeks to increase the number of minority candidates considered for available coaching positions, particularly head coaching positions, through the Rooney Rule. The rule requires any team with a vacancy in its head coaching position to interview at least one minority candidate before hiring anyone for the job. This rule often does not achieve its desired result as teams hold token interviews with minority candidates before proceeding to hire the person they wanted to bring in all along.

    Promotions

    • The NFL does not differentiate between levels of assistant coaches in its rules regarding their availability to interview with other teams. Whether the coach is a defensive line coach or an offensive coordinator, the rules are the same. If a team wishes to interview an assistant coach who is still under contract with another team for its head coaching position, the current team is required to give permission for the interview as long as it happens between the end of the team's season and March 1. After March 1, teams can still ask, but the current team is not obligated to give permission.

    Lateral Move

    • An NFL team cannot interview an assistant coach who is under contract as an assistant with another team for the following season without the permission of his current organization. Teams will usually give permission upon request, particularly if a lower level coach is set to take an offensive or defensive coordinator position elsewhere, but the current team is not required to give permission.

    During the Season

    • Teams may not interview assistants from another team for either a lateral move or a head coaching opportunity during the season. The lone exception to this rule comes when teams want to interview assistants for head coaching jobs while the current team is in the playoffs. As there is an urgency to hire new head coaches for some non-playoff teams, the NFL does allow teams to request permission to interview a postseason participant's assistants during the wild card week for teams who have the bye that week. They can also request permission to do so during the first week of Super Bowl preparations as long as there is a two-week break between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. The team only has one chance to talk to the assistant coach, once permission is granted, before the coach's team is eliminated from the playoffs.