Even in the best of times, Michele Meyer-Shipp says, diversity initiatives have had detractors. And she’s always met the challenge.
It’s a tough job. But somebody’s gotta do it.
Step right up, Michele Meyer-Shipp.
Nearly five months ago, Meyer-Shipp replaced Rod Graves as executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance (FPA), an independent organization that promotes and monitors minority hiring for head coaching roles and other high-level positions in the NFL.
Yeah, that NFL. The one where Black coaches were 1-for-18 in landing the top jobs over the past two hiring cycles. The one that is a defendant, along with several teams, in a class-action lawsuit brought forth by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and two former coaches alleging racial discrimination. The one under attack from the Florida attorney general, aiming to wipe out the Rooney Rule, which ties so closely to the FPA’s mission.
The challenges for Meyer-Shipp come from multiple directions, with multiple layers, against the political winds of the anti-DEI movement pushed by the highest levels of government.
“You said, ‘challenge.’ I’m actually super-excited about this,” Meyer-Shipp told USA TODAY Sports. “It was an amazing opportunity I stepped into.”
That’s the spirit. Meyer-Shipp, a lawyer with an extensive background on the front lines of corporate diversity – Merrill Lynch, Prudential and Major League Baseball are among the entities she’s impacted – has a spunk that is palatable.
“Even in the best of times, when DEI was a thing, when it was cachet, everywhere I worked during those times, I always encountered leaders who didn’t care and didn’t want to care,” she said. “So, to me, this is just a heightened version of it that happens to be in the news constantly. I have always had naysayers. And they’re always going to be there.”
Touring the NFL
Meyer-Shipp is scheduled to be in the Detroit Lions camp in Allen Park, Michigan, on Friday, July 31, continuing what she calls a “listening tour” that has helped acclimate her to the NFL environment and begin to develop relationships – with team and league officials, coaches and other staff alike – that will be essential in her new role.
Being exposed to coaches in their environment during practices certainly won’t hurt in identifying potential candidates for upward mobility. The FPA has traditionally compiled “ready lists” for head coach, coordinator and GM candidates that are distributed to teams before the hiring cycles.
“If we are going to be an outfit where people are looking for us to identify talent, I need to be out there seeing the talent,” said Meyer-Shipp, whose brother-in-law, Marcel Shipp, played and coached in the NFL. Two of her three sons played college football.
It’s been an impressive tour, with plans for other camp visits. During the offseason, she visited with several team owners, presidents and coaches. In June, she attended the Ozzie Newsome GM Forum and QB Coaching Summit in Atlanta, which is conducted by the Black College Football Hall of Fame and supported by the NFL, and featured several presentations by current or former NFL coaches and executives.
In May, it was the NFL’s “reimagined” Accelerator program – a seminar for rising coaches and executives that included non-diverse candidates for the first time – in Orlando.
“Interestingly, what I heard from them was that they loved being in the room with each other, hearing and learning from each other about different perspectives,” she said of the Accelerator program. “And I did not expect to hear that. All of the people in that room are potential top leaders. They are all going to be working together in this league for the foreseeable future, so for them to be in the room together and build relationships and connect across clubs was actually something more beneficial than I realized it would be.”
Partnering with the NFL
In one sense, Meyer-Shipp is walking a fine line with the NFL. She’s encouraged by the brainstorming that occurred during visits to NFL teams and the potential to partner on future projects as she points to professional development for FPA members as a critical objective in her post. And she considers NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, chairman of the league’s diversity committee, committed allies.
Still, given the track record for diversity in the NFL – which includes Goodell’s questionable efforts to discipline teams that have seemingly violated the Rooney Rule – the potential for conflict exists. The FPA may partner with the NFL and teams, but will it hold them accountable, too, when issues arise?
“There is a balancing act,” Meyer-Shipp said. “That, honestly, is the gray area part of the job. But what I’ve realized is that the folks I’ve been talking to at least, are open to a candid and hard conversation. I don’t feel there is any space and time when the FPA cannot clearly use its voice in saying to the league, ‘Hey, guys, seriously you’ve got this wrong.’ Or, “Wait a minute, what’s the problem?’
“Here’s the bottom line: We can’t do what we need to do at the FPA unless we have a partnership with the teams and the league. Our members are their people. Their people are the ones we’re trying to nurture and grow. So, imagine a world if we didn’t have a relationship with the powers that be. Then what are we doing?”
Applying more pressure?
“It’s the stick and not the carrot,” she said. “That’s just not the way of the world. Having worked in corporate America for over 20 years, this stuff we’re dealing with is no different than what you see in big corporate. The difference, though, is that in big corporate, people can hop out of one company and go to another. There’s thousands of companies and they can do the same job somewhere else. The difference here is that there is only one NFL, there’s only 32 head coach jobs, only 32 team presidents, only 32 GM jobs. So, it’s a little bit more dicey. You’ve got to have the relationships.”
Future of the Rooney Rule
Meyer-Shipp would not delve deeply into the attack on the Rooney Rule from Florida AG James Uthmeier. The rule, established in 2003, mandates that teams must interview at least two diverse candidates for head coach, coordinator and GM openings.
“I’m a lawyer,” she said. “So I follow the letter of the law.”
“No court has said that it doesn’t pass legal muster. So, as far as I’m concerned, the rule is applicable, the rule is doing what it was set out to do. I want to continue to support that rule.”
That said, you might think that Meyer-Shipp firmly backs the lawsuit spearheaded by Flores, which alleges that he was victimized by sham interviews conducted by teams merely want to comply with the Rooney Rule. After all, the merits of Flores’ suit align seemingly align with the FPA’s mission. The NFL has failed in multiple legal attempts, including a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court, to have the case moved out of court and into arbitration.
She won’t comment. At least not now. Yet she’s surely paying attention, mindful that the case may ultimately represent its own tour of the NFL’s landscape for diversity.
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