Tony Dungy calls out NFL teams for misusing the 'Rooney Rule'

Regardless of whether you agree with the general concept of the NFL's Rooney Rule, there's no doubt that it could use some tweaking.

The rule, which was designed to get minority coaches more head coaching opportunities, has essentially turned into a sham. Over the past five years, only one first-time minority head coach has been hired (the Jets' Todd Bowles). Even worse, many of the minority coaches who are being interviewed question whether they have a legitimate shot at the job, or whether are simply being interviewed to fill a quota.

Clearly something has to change, and we learned that again on Tuesday, when one of the most prominent voices in the sport of football spoke out about the need for overhaul.

That would be Tony Dungy, who told this to ESPN about the rule.

"The good thing about the Rooney Rule was not that you had to interview a minority candidate but that it slowed the process down and made you do some research," newly minted Hall of Famer Tony Dungy said. "But now it seems like in the last few years, people haven't really done what the rule was designed for. It has become, 'Just let me talk to a couple minority coaches very quickly so I can go about the business of hiring the person I really want to hire anyway.'"

That's exactly what the NFL was trying to avoid when it implemented the rule, yet it's exactly where we are in 2016.

From there, explained that the overall process of hiring coaches needs to be looked at. Not just for minorities but for all first-time coaches in general.

"Too frequently, we don't look at leadership, we don't look at getting the most out of people, we don't look at bringing people together and staffs together --€” all those things that you need to be a head coach," Dungy said. "It is an inexact science. It is done in an inexact way. Look how long it took Bruce Arians to get a head-coaching job; it is not just with minorities.

"But I think when you are a minority coach, you have even that added burden, or added handicap, of not always being highly publicized. For owners who do not know what they are looking for, it is much easier to say, 'Well, I'll take Candidate A because at least everybody knows him and everybody will say this is a good hire.'"

Clearly something needs to be done, and while we might not have the answer today, it's important to continue to have these conversations and bring the issues to light.

Obviously if this topic has Tony Dungy --- one of the most stoic, even-keeled men in football --- fired up, it's on a lot of other people's minds as well.