NFL to cancel Accelerator program designed to promote diversity hiring practices

The NFL has decided to cancel the Accelerator program that would have taken place next week during the latest round of league meetings in Minneapolis, citing a need for improvements. The tool is meant to promote diversity hiring practices on the head coaching and front office levels.

Two people familiar with the situation confirmed a CBS Sports report that NFL officials decided the accelerator program is in need of a revamp to make it more effective. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the NFL.

Officials maintain that the cancellation will not spell the end of the NFL’s commitment to diversity. Instead, officials focused on strengthening efforts to ensure that people of color and women receive fair opportunities are going back to the drawing board. The hope is that the improved accelerator program will launch at the 2026 May meetings.

In a statement issued by the NFL, executive vice president and chief administrative officer Dasha Smith explained, “Every off-season, we take a step back to reflect on the positives and areas for improvement of our programs and assess ways to make them more impactful. This year, we assessed and identified additional opportunities with the Accelerator – including combining the coaching and front office programs to ensure the Accelerator continues to be as impactful as possible.

“We have decided to hold the next iteration of the Accelerator in May 2026. This will allow us to reimagine the program, reflecting on the feedback and engaging with stakeholders so we can ensure a successful program in the future. We’re steadfast in our commitment to strengthen our talent pipeline and create an environment that reflects the diversity of our fan base. The NFL strives to be a unifying force, and we are confident the next evolution of our efforts will take us one step closer to that goal.”

Beginning in 2022, the NFL began holding its accelerator program at the spring meetings. That session featured 60 potential candidates for head coach or general manager positions, along with representatives from ownership and top executive groups from all 32 NFL teams. A second session, more geared toward aspiring front office and football operations executives, took place in December 2022.

NFL officials — including executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent and executive vice president and chief administrative officer Dasha Smith — saw a need for the accelerator because NFL owners have continued to pass over highly qualified people of color when filling top vacancies. The trend persists despite the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minorities for open general manager, head coaching and coordinator positions. When questioned about a lack of diversity in hirings, NFL owners blamed limited talent pools or developmental pipelines for minority candidates.

As Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, explained during a 2023 interview with The Athletic, the accelerator had with three main objectives:

1. “We want to make sure there is a deeper understanding of the business of football. These are coaches and front-office executives, and they need to know everything about the business of football to help them dominate. This is to peel back the curtain that gives them a deeper understanding of the business of football.”
2. “Everyone there has an aspiration — to be a GM, to be a head coach, or even to be a president. … We will provide programming for you that will assist you as you’re on that path and make you more aware and make you stronger as a leader, because we’ll provide you with access to information and ways of thinking that you may not have thought of, or that you want to reinforce.”
3. “And lastly, it’s networking, networking, networking.”

However, to date, only two accelerator alumni have managed to secure jobs thanks in part to the program. Tennessee Titans brass met then-San Francisco 49ers talent evaluator Ran Carthon at one of the first accelerator sessions and wound up hiring him as their general manager in 2023. The Titans gave Carthon little time to rebuild the franchise, however, firing him during the 2024 season. Meanwhile, Aaron Glenn, whom the New York Jets hired as their head coach this past winter, is the only coach who has attended the accelerator and eventually landed a head gig.

It’s unclear what changes the NFL’s diversity team intends to make to the program aside from possibly combining the coaching and front office segments. Previously, the league held the coach-oriented accelerator in the spring because coaches rarely could attend the December program due to the demands of game-planning and practice schedules. The December meetings instead focused on connecting front office members with ownership groups.

League officials have acknowledged that the league has a problem on its hands, especially when it comes to developing and promoting assistant coaches and putting them on the track to securing head coaching jobs. The NFL has incentivized the development and promotion of coaches and talent evaluators, awarding compensatory draft picks to teams that lose top offensive and front office assistants to head coaching or general manager jobs with opposing franchises.

Smith pointed out that the NFL’s efforts also include a three-day candidate development program that takes place every year at the Combine, and that the league also hosts an annual Women’s Forum, which has led to career opportunities and advancement for 40 women in the coaching, talent evaluation and team leadership departments.

However, more work remains to be done until a league whose players are roughly 70 percent Black — yet has only six Black head coaches, seven general managers of color and no Black offensive coordinators — boasts leadership ranks that illustrate fair and balanced hiring practices.

The optics around the timing of the program’s cancellation aren’t great, given that the move comes during a climate in which President Donald Trump has worked to eliminate programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

However, since Trump’s election, commissioner Roger Goodell has maintained the NFL’s ongoing commitment to strengthening its numbers when it comes to giving minorities and women opportunities for advancement.

“I’ve been very clear that we think diversity makes us better,” Goodell said at the league meetings in late March. “I think a lot of our policies are designed to give opportunities and develop that talent. A lot of our programs are designed in that way, and we’re fully committed to continuing that work to try to develop better talent and give them that opportunity and make the NFL better, ultimately. So, we’re all in on that and, obviously, we’re going to be fully compliant with federal laws. We always have been, and we’ll continue to do that.”

At the same event, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones echoed Goodell’s sentiments that, despite Trump’s stance, the NFL’s commitment to diversity had not waned.

“I think we’re right where we’ve always been, and we all have our opinions and our input, and right now it is the same for me as it was a year ago, two years ago,” Jones said.

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank reiterated that sentiment.

“There are a lot of things being attacked now, some of which I understand, some of which I don’t personally. I will say the Rooney Rule was adopted over 20 years ago, and the intent of it has not changed,” Blank told reporters. “Football is at its best on the field, and on our coaching staffs, and our fans, and our sponsors … when we are including everybody, and that’s one of the beauties of this game, that it includes everybody.”

Whether actions across the NFL will match those public statements remains to be seen.

(Photo: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)

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