Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles didn’t shy away on Monday from discussing the NFL’s head coach hiring practices.

“That’s the billion-dollar question,” Bowles said at the league’s annual meeting when asked how the NFL could increase diversity amongst its head coaches. “I wish I could answer that. I don’t know what to do about that. It’s depressing, it’s sad. You want better. We have to do better. It’s not a lip service thing; it’s an action thing. I don’t know what that action is at this point.”

Bowles is one of three Black head coaches in the NFL. The league had a record-tying 10 head-coaching vacancies this past offseason but no jobs went to Black candidates and only one — Robert Saleh with the Tennessee Titans — went to a person of color. There were several Black coaches interviewed for the openings, as is commonplace since the institution of the Rooney Rule in 2003.

However, Bowles expressed concern that not all of those interviews are legitimate. He said he “absolutely” felt that he was used to check a Rooney Rule box at various junctures in his career. It’s something he voiced to “quite a few people” but the reaction was generally a shrug.

“Can’t prove it,” Bowles said. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

Bowles has landed two head-coaching jobs in his career. In 2015, he interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears before becoming the head coach of the New York Jets. He was fired after going 24-40 in four seasons. Bowles then joined the Bucs as defensive coordinator for three seasons under Bruce Arians and was promoted to head coach in 2022 after Arians retired.

Over the years, Bowles also interviewed with the Miami Dolphins in 2012 for a job that went to Joe Philbin, with the Minnesota Vikings in 2014 for a job that went to Mike Zimmer and with the Atlanta Falcons in 2021 for a job that went to Arthur Smith.

Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was a hot candidate in this year’s hiring cycle. Joseph, like Bowles, is a defensive mind who had a short run as a head coach in his first shot and built up his reputation again by being successful as a defensive coordinator. However, Joseph’s chance at another head-coaching opportunity will have to wait at least another year.

“The success he’s had the last couple of years and Denver having the defense like they’ve had and building the credibility and credentials that he’s had, not to get a shot — or another shot — is unbelievable to me,” Bowles said. “Something has to be fixed.”

One theory that’s been floated is that the responsibility extends beyond ownership and general managers, who actually make the hires, and includes current head coaches, who can help put more Black coaches in better assistant positions that have proven to be a head-coaching pipeline, such as offensive coordinator. Bowles doesn’t believe that’s the issue.

“I’ve seen that theory done, and I’ve seen it passed over as well, so I think that’s a BS theory,” Bowles said. “People put people in position and you hire who you need to hire and who you want to hire. It hasn’t gone that way.”