Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones did not say President Trump’s DEI criticism caused the NFL to pause its coaching accelerator program, but he said it made the league more “aware.”
The coaching accelerator program, which has been in place since 2022, is designed to give minority coaches a chance to network with league executives and owners during the NFL’s spring meetings. However, the league decided not to hold the accelerator program at this year’s spring meetings and postponed it to next year.
“The emphasis the president puts on it just makes us all aware and thinking about it,” Jones said.
Jones also cited a 2023 Supreme Court affirmative action decision influencing league owners.
“I don’t believe and have seen nothing from talking to anybody, that this is a reaction to that,” Jones told USA Today. “I think you’d be naïve if you didn’t think the Supreme Court decisions have impacted decisions all over the country. The issue of technically, how and what you’re doing, I think that’s a lot more influenced than anything our president is talking about.”
Despite the program’s postponement, Steelers Owner Art Rooney II says the league plans to forge ahead with its DEI initiatives.
“I realize that people are going to look at this and say, ‘These people are backing off,'” Rooney told USA Today. “That’s not going to happen. There’s nothing I can really do about that perception, except to say that we’re still not satisfied with where we are, and we recognize that we still have work to do.”
