The Las Vegas Raiders’ scheduled interviews with former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel and current Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero in south Florida will get them one step closer to hiring a new coach whether or not one of them is ultimately selected.
Both are minority candidates, which would fulfill the requirements of the Rooney Rule and clear the way for the Raiders to make a hire once they have made a decision.
Raiders officials are expected to speak with both coaches in person during a trip to watch potential No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza’s Indiana Hoosiers take on the Miami (Florida) Hurricanes.
Evero already did a virtual interview last week, but only in-person interviews satisfy the requirements, a set of rules that began in 2003. They were enacted to encourage best-hiring practices to foster and provide opportunity to diverse leadership throughout the league.
McDaniel’s ethnicity became a talking point during the hiring process in Miami, though it’s a subject he has expressed some reluctance to discuss.
“It’s been very odd to tell you the truth, this idea of identifying as something,” he said at the time. “I think people identify me as something, but I identify as a human being. My dad is Black, so whatever you want to call it, I know there are a lot of people with a shared experience. But it’s weird that it comes up because I’ve just tried to be a good person and I think my background opens my eyes a little bit.”
McDaniel has said his background, and seeing his mother ostracized by some, has made him sympathetic to the struggles of those who have dealt with discrimination even if he has mostly been able to avoid it in his professional life.
“I know my mom experienced (racism) when she married my dad,” he said. “I know my dad experienced it and that’s in my family. I guess that makes me a human being that can identify with other people’s problems.”
Evero, who was born in England and raised in Rancho Cucamonga, California, is of Nigerian descent.
He was signed by the Raiders out of UC Davis as an undrafted free agent in 2004, but did not make the team.
Evero, who has also spoken with the Steelers and Falcons before Atlanta hired Kevin Stefanski on Saturday night, will be the first candidate to get a second interview with the Raiders.
McDaniel has spoken with the Browns, Ravens and Titans about their head-coaching vacancies in addition to discussing several vacant offensive coordinator positions.
The Raiders have interviewed two other minority candidates — Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and Rams passing game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase, virtually.
The original Rooney Rule, named for the then-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers Dan Rooney, was adopted in 2003 and has expanded from the early days of requiring every team with a head-coaching vacancy to interview at least one diverse candidate to address concerns over historically low numbers of minorities in the position.
That policy was expanded to include general manager and primary football executive jobs requiring at least two external minority candidates, as well as coordinator positions.
At least one diverse candidate must be interviewed for an open quarterback coach or senior level executive position.
An update to the policy in 2020 added incentives for teams that develop minority coaches in their building who move on to bigger jobs elsewhere. That addendum was meant to encourage organizations to bring in and develop a more diverse group of young coaches and staffers.
The updates have been designed to “bolster the current Rooney Rule requirements and are intended to create additional opportunities for diverse candidates to be identified, interviewed and ultimately hired when a vacancy becomes available,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated at the time.
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