NFL officials were pleased with their meeting with Falcons’ officials who are at the beginning stages of their search for a general manager and head coach.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank and his top leadership team from the organization and his several other businesses, met with Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, and Dasha Smith, the NFL’s executive vice president and chief people officer, on Nov. 11 in-person to discuss diversity and hiring practices.
The meetings were held in Buckhead, lasted for about six hours and were socially distanced, with some associates attending the meeting virtually.
“Troy and I were invited down by the Falcons organization, Mr. Blank invited us down to really have an open dialogue about initiatives across the league office, some challenges that we face and others are far as not making as much progress as we hoped to make on the diversity front and really focusing on solutions, collectively on what we all could be doing better. I think it was a very productive meeting,” Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “We met with various groups of stakeholders, senior leadership as well as a number of employee groups.”
The Falcons fired general manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Dan Quinn on Oct. 11. Raheem Morris was named interim head coach. Falcons president Rich McKay assumed the general manager duties and brought in national scout Ruston Webster to help run the daily football operations.
The Falcons are doing their due diligence and will start their interviewing process soon.
“I had very open and candid conversations and really walked away with some solutions together on things we want to try to do differently to end up with different outcomes, better outcomes,” Smith said.
The Falcons have complied with the league’s Rooney Rule in the past and Blank was one of the original members on the committee. The rule was originally designed to identify minority candidates.
“I felt like Arthur and his team of leaders, they truly embrace inclusion,” Vincent said. “It was obvious by the people that were in the room. It was a comprehensive conversation around what works and what doesn’t work. In particular what can they do as an organization better, the transparency in the room, I thought was outstanding.”
Over the past few hiring seasons, the hiring of minority coaching and front office candidates has been heavily scrutinized by the league and the Fritz Pollard Alliance.
“Again, we are putting things in place, like what works for us because obviously what we’ve done, it hasn’t work at the level that we’d like to see, but just sharing some of our practices,” Vincent said. “Sharing some of our personal learnings.
“I think on the football side and on the business side, Mr. Blank is looking for different outcomes. He’s looking to be an example. We just talked about the intentionality.”
Teams have often said the coaching and general manager talent pools were lacking minority candidates. The league is helping teams to identify candidates, like former Giants general manager Jerry Reese and former Broncos general manager Rick Smith, who are available and have track records.
The league is pushing teams to evaluate all candidates.
“Men and women of color exist, particularly in that particular market place,” Vincent said. “We have to be open and intentional about those efforts as we look at not just the football universe, but also those on the business side.”
In the past, NFL teams have been accused of conducting sham interviews to comply with the Rooney Rule requirements.
“It goes without saying that we have to do things differently,” Smith said. “There is no question about it. Over the course of this past year, frankly prior to the George Floyd event, we as a league, came together with ownership and really knew that we had to make some changes.”
In addition to more interviews, teams are required to keep clear records of the interviews, job postings, hiring processes and how long they are meeting with candidates and who’s meeting with the candidates. They must also show how they identified the candidates.
“At the end of the day, we all need and seek different outcomes,” Smith said. “There has been a clear message from the commissioner on that. There has been a clear message from ownership on the desire to see different outcomes. Now, we have to see it play out in the GM and coach hiring season.”
Detroit and Houston also have made coaching and general manager changes.
“There is an extensive process in place to try to ensure fair and equitable outcomes,” Smith said. “We will only see at the end of this season if these additional requirements are effective or not, but we are very hopeful.”
Falcons’ final four games
Falcons at Chargers at 4:25 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 13
Buccaneers at Falcons at 1 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 20
Falcons at Chiefs at 1 p.m., Dec. 27
Falcons at Buccaneers at 1 p.m., Jan. 3
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