Los Angeles (AFP) - US President Joe Biden said Sunday "generic decency" demanded that the NFL improve its record of promoting head coaching diversity in the wake of recent allegations of racism.
Speaking ahead of the Super Bowl, Biden told NBC that he agreed with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who on Wednesday said the league had "fallen short" on hiring minority coaches.
"The whole idea that a league that is made up of so many athletes of color, as well as so diverse, that there's not enough African American qualified coaches to quote, "to manage," these NFL teams, it just seems to me that it's a standard that they'd want to live up to," Biden said.
"I don't know if there's not a requirement of law, but it's a requirement I think of some just generic decency."
The long-running issue surrounding the dearth of Black head coaches in the NFL has come under renewed scrutiny recently following the sacking of former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores.
Flores later filed a lawsuit against the league accusing it of racist hiring policies.
Goodell on Wednesday said the NFL planned to hire outside experts as part of a wide-ranging review over the failure of more African-Americans to be appointed to head coaching jobs.
"I think we've made a lot of progress in a lot of areas," Goodell said. "But not at the head coach...We have fallen short of that by a long shot."
Asked on Sunday if he believed the NFL was being held to a higher standard over diversity, Biden said the league should be required to meet a "reasonable standard."
"And, you know, the commissioner pointed out, they haven't lived up to what they committed to," Biden said.
"They haven't lived up to being open about hiring more minorities to run teams, and whether or not, you know, Goodell says they're gonna take a look at what, whether they can meet the standard."
