This afternoon, the Collegiate Coaching Diversity Pledge was announced with initial signatures of 30 NCAA Division 1 Athletics Directors. The opt-in pledge is to include a diverse group of candidates in the finalist pool for head coach vacancies in men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and football. Those familiar with the NFL may be aware of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams interview at least two external minority candidates for head coaching openings and at least one minority candidate for any coordinator job. Unlike the NFL's Rooney Rule, the Diversity Pledge is not compulsory in Division 1 coaching searches for non-signatory schools.

The Diversity Pledge lists the following for compliance:

To maintain compliance with the Collegiate Coaching Diversity Pledge, athletic directors must have a finalist pool that includes at least one candidate from a traditionally underrepresented background and one non-diverse candidate.

The interview process for all finalist candidates must be substantially equivalent. For example, if the eventually-hired coach received both a phone, neutral site, and campus interview, all unsuccessful finalist candidates must also have participated in the same process.

In addition to Alnutt, the signees include Sean T. Fraizer (Northern Illinois) and Shawn Heilbron (Stony Brook). No other athletics directors from the Mid-American Conference or New York State were included. Outside of the West Coast Conference, which in August adopted the "Russell Rule," no Division 1 conference mandates the interviewing of any specific demographic in coaching searches.

In 2006, the University at Buffalo made headlines as the only Division 1 FBS school with a black athletics director (Warde Manuel), head football coach (Turner Gill), and head basketball coach (Reggie Witherspoon). Since then, Allen Greene was promoted to athletics director after Danny White departed for UCF, Mark Alnutt was hired to fill Greene's role after his departure for Auburn, Alex Wood was named interim head football coach after Jeff Quinn's departure, and Felisha Legette-Jack was hired as head women's basketball coach after Linda Hill-MacDonald's contract was not renewed. Additionally, Kathy Twist became the first female athletics director for UB, serving on an interim basis between Greene's departure and Alnutt's arrival.