Roger Goodell vowed nothing will be off the table in a review of the NFL's hiring processes after Brian Flores launched a class action lawsuit against the league.
The NFL commissioner was unsurprisingly peppered with questions about the Flores saga in his pre-Super Bowl news conference on Wednesday at SoFi Stadium.
Flores alleges the NFL is rife with racism and has a "disingenuous commitment to social equity". The Miami Dolphins, who fired Flores after a second successive winning season in 2021, New York Giants and Denver Broncos were all named in his suit.
He claimed an interview he had with the Giants was a sham, indicating he inadvertently learned of their intention to hire Brian Daboll through a text exchange with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick prior to his interview.
It is also alleged in the lawsuit that Flores "was interviewed only because of the Rooney Rule" by the Broncos in 2019 and was never intended to be "a legitimate candidate".
The NFL has just five minority head coaches, with Flores' replacement in Miami, Mike McDaniel, and Lovie Smith joining Mike Tomlin, Ron Rivera and Robert Saleh on that list.
Speaking for over 40 minutes in Los Angeles, Goodell insisted the NFL will not rule out any potential avenue to address the league's shortcomings in giving opportunities to minority coaches.
"Last year we were talking about the same subject which is part of the frustration. Racism is something we will not tolerate," said Goodell.
"If there are policies that we need to modify, we're going to do that. If we've seen evidence of discrimination, we will deal with that in a very serious way that will reflect the fact that we won't tolerate that.
"We don't take anything off the table until we have people look at it and help us independently [understand] if there is something flawed with our process.
"We believe in diversity, we believe in it as a value, we believe it's made us stronger.
"People who have come into the league who are diverse have been very successful and have made us better and we just have to do a better job.
"We have to look, is there a better thing we can do to make sure we're attracting that best talent and making our league inclusive?
"If I had the answer right now, I would give it to you. I think what we have to do right now is to step back and say 'we're not doing a good enough job here, we need to find better solutions and better outcomes'."
Asked if he bears personal responsibility for the league's continued problems in bringing more diversity to the coaching ranks, Goodell replied: "I do. As a league I don't think there's a subject we've discussed more frequently. I do bear that responsibility as do all our clubs."