The Seattle Seahawks have designated assistant coach Jim Mora to assume the reins after head coach Mike Holmgren retires following the 2008 season, according to Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com.

Mora currently is the secondary/assistant head coach in Seattle.

Technically, the move does not violate the Rooney Rule, if (as we presume) the future promotion has been added to Mora’s contract.  Under the league provision that requires at least one minority candidate to be interviewed for each head-coaching vacancy, an exception applies where a team elevates a member of the current staff via a pre-determined deal.

But the Fritz Pollard Alliance is likely to balk.  Last month, chairman John Wooten indicated that the Alliance did not believe that it would be permissible to add such a clause to the contract of an assistant coach already in the building.  NFL spokesman Greg Aiello disagreed, explaining that if the promotion becomes part of the written contract of a current member of the staff, the Rooney Rule is not implicated.

Our guess is that the Mora case will result in a refinement to the rule.  For example, the league might require in the future that the promise to promote the in-house candidate occur before the current head coach announces his plans to leave.