Roger Goodell, the 55-year-old NFL Commissioner, is a man who seems to be in the front seat of controversy on a regular basis these days. The New York-native was born in Jamestown, New York on February 19, 1959. He’s the son of former United States Senator Charles Ellsworth Goodell and Jean Rice Goodell. He attended Bronxville High School, where he was a star athlete. The commissioner played basketball, football and baseball and was captain of all three high-profile teams when he was a senior in high school. He graduated with the title Athlete of the Year, and went on to attend college at Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
The Personal Life of the NFL Commissioner
One of the things Roger Goodell has always been very open about is the fact that he is a family man through and through. Goodell is married to Jane Skinner, who was once a news anchor for Fox News. She’s now the mother of Goodell’s twin daughters, retiring from her position with Fox News to spend more time with her children.
Goodell is from a big family. He has four brothers, and each one is successful in his own right. One brother is a higher-up with Hess Corporation, and another of his brother’s is the longtime partner of a man by the name of Jack Kenny, who created the NBC series, The Book of Daniel, which featured a family with the last name Webster, who Kenny based on the Goodell family.
Goodell and the NFL
Long before he took over the title of NFL Commissioner in 2006, Roger Goodell was with the NFL in other roles. He began his work for the NFL in 1982, back when he was just out of college. He started from the bottom and worked his way to the top. The administrative intern was eager to learn all he could about the league so that he could move up in the company and eventually end up at the top, which he has succeeded in doing. The Commissioner at the time he began his work for the NFL was Pete Rozelle. He left the NFL for a year in 1983 to take a job as an intern with the New York Jets, but ultimately decided to return to the NFL in 1984.
This time he was an assistant in the PR department. He spent three years working in this position before he was promoted. His new role in 1987 was assistant to the president of the AFC (American Football Conference). He was under the direction of Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, whose job he would later be given. He spent many years working in this role, but his hard work and dedication to this job paid off in the long run. In 2001, Goodell was promoted again. This time he was given the role of COO, and he was given a great deal more responsibility. He did his job with so much gusto and success that when Paul Tagliabue decided to retire, Goodell was appointed the new Commissioner of the NFL. It came as no surprise to anyone. However, he was up against four other men for the job and, and he won by two votes.
He began his tenure as NFL Commissioner on August 8, 2006. He made it clear from day one that his main goal as the Commissioner was to keep the sport safe and make it a safer place for players who would later enter the NFL out of college and high school. However, many of his actions have been met with criticism.
Goodell and Controversy
If Roger Goodell has managed to accomplish something in his time as NFL Commissioner, he’s managed to create a lot of controversy. One of the first controversies that the Commissioner dealt with was his choice to enact the NFL Personal Conduct Policy in which he made a big example out of Pacman Jones and Chris Henry in light of their behaviors and actions off the field. This was met with exceptional controversy when he decided to suspend both in 2007. Since initiating the policy, he’s suspended and imposed fines on dozens of players and coaches for inappropriate conduct both on and off the football field as a way of setting an example of what appropriate behavior should look like.
Many people are not a fan of Goodell’s desire to fine players who engage in illegal hits, but as the Commissioner believes, safety is important and illegal hits are not just unfair to the game, they’re dangerous to the health and wellbeing of the players on the field. “It is clear to me that further action is required to emphasize the importance of teaching safe and controlled techniques, and of playing within the rules,” he said in a statement in 2010 after players from the Steelers, Falcons and Patriots all engaged in illegal hits.
In 2007, Goodell imposed a heavy penalty on the New England Patriots and their coach, Bill Belichick for attempting to video the Jets’ defensive signals. He felt it was a poor choice in action by the coach, and imposed a half million dollar fine on the coach, a quarter million dollar fine on the team and also removed the team’s first round draft pick in 2008. This decision was met with controversy from every possible angle, but Goodell stood by his decision to impose these penalties on the Patriots.
In 2012, Goodell and the NFL partnered with USA Football to create the Heads Up Football program, which is designed to help kids and players learn the importance of tackling using the Heads Up technique, which is designed to prevent concussions. The program also teaches parents and coaches, as well as players, what to look out for when a concussion is suspected. Goodell went on the record to state that as a parent of athletic twin girls, he is someone who believes that all sports should have a program that teaches parents, coaches and players the importance of playing safe and learning the signs of a concussion. This is one of the least controversial actions that Goodell has taken on as Commissioner of the NFL.
The Ray Rice Controversy
The Ray Rice controversy is one that has been public most of 2014, but it’s the Commissioner that’s under fire for the controversy. In February 2014, Rice and his wife, Janay Palmer, were in Atlantic City. The two became engaged in a heated argument that resulted in the arrest of both. Rice was indicted the following month for third-degree assault on his wife after a video from the security cameras at the Atlantic City casino where the two were arrested was leaked by TMZ. In the video, Rice is shown dragging his unconscious wife from an elevator.
It was reported a few months later that Roger Goodell had obtained tapes of what really happened inside the elevator, which is something the rest of the world has not seen. These tapes show what went down during the physical altercation and how the Baltimore Ravens’ running back actually injured Janay Palmer. It was alleged that Commissioner Goodell was given this information in June. He took time to deliberate how the NFL would punish Rice, and eventually decided that he would be subjected to suspension for the first two games of the 2014 season, as well as the pay from one additional game.
After announcing his decision, the Commissioner faced very heavy criticism. He’s issued heavier punishments on teams who were caught filming play signals, and here he is letting a man who physically attacked his wife and was arrest and charged with assault get away with a two-game suspension. Keith Olbermann went on the record as calling out the Commissioner to resign from his post with the NFL.
In August, Commissioner Goodell responded with a memo stating that the actions he took were not right. In the memo, Goodell stated that he, “Didn’t get it right,” when it came to issuing a proper punishment for the Ravens’ player. This led to the announcement of new guidelines and laws that would enforce stricter suspension laws for domestic violence. The new memo states a minimum 6 game suspension for first time offenders and a minimum one-year suspension for repeat offenders. The policy has been called a “good start,” in terms of punishment for domestic abuse.
It looked as if the criticism of the Commissioner was letting up until TMZ posted a video online from the security cameras in the elevator. The video clearly shows Rice punching his wife in the face so hard she was rendered unconscious. The release of this video has brought about a new round of punishment and criticism for Roger Goodell.
The NFL was quick to say that no one in their offices had ever seen the footage on the video that TMZ posted online, which is taken by the rest of the world as a cover-up by the NFL, who is under fire for their poor decisions. The day that the video was released, Goodell announced that Rice was indefinitely suspended from the team, and the Ravens then released Rice from their roster. On September 9, Roger Goodell made a public statement that the video shown by TMZ was not one that was ever watched by anyone in his offices.
Whether or not the Commissioner should remain in his role is a controversy at the moment. Many believe that he will be forced to resign in the coming weeks, but others believe that he learned a valuable lesson from this. Throughout his reign as Commissioner, he’s been the subject of many controversies, but he’s also been a staunch believer in appropriate behavior and safety. His 8 year career as Commissioner of the NFL has seen much success with programs such as Heads Up Football, which is saving lives and minimizing injury on the football field in children’s leagues and high schools across the country, and with keeping the game safe for the professional players. The controversy surrounding Ray Rice is a big one, and it’s one that’s consistently becoming just a bit bigger with every bit of additional information made public.
(Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
