When Jon Gruden was introduced as the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders, general manager Reggie McKenzie was asked if he complied with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate. He then told the media that he interviewed USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin and Raiders tight end coach Bobby Johnson.
Reggie McKenzie confirms he interviewed two minority candidates for HC position: Tee Martin, USC offensive coordinator, and Bobby Johnson, Raiders TE coach.
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) January 9, 2018
However, the NFL ended up launching an investigation into whether the Raiders actually did comply with the rule, which wasn’t all that surprising given the reports that Gruden was going to be hired well before the interview process had begun.
On Friday, the league reportedly cleared the Raiders on this issue, finding that the team did comply with the Rooney Rule and won’t face any discipline, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
After an investigation, NFL determined that the Raiders complied with Rooney Rule in their hiring of HC Jon Gruden, per source. No discipline.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 19, 2018
Here’s a bit more on this, as well.
Email from NFL spokesman on Raiders/Rooney Rule: "The NFL confirmed today that its review of the hiring of Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden complied with the Rooney Rule and that the club conducted bona fide interviews with minority candidates as part of its search process."
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) January 19, 2018
If the Raiders had been deemed to have not followed this rule, then the club would have faced punishment, which could have involved a fine and/or a loss of draft picks.