It has not been a great week for diversity hiring in the NFL. Just one head-coaching vacancy remains of the original five openings and the only person of color hired has been Ron Rivera (by Washington), already a member of the head coaches’ club.

The NFL has just three African American coaches, the same number as in 2003, when the “Rooney Rule” was adopted to promote diversity. Aside from Rivera, Dallas hired club-member Mike McCarthy. The other two were men with slim resumes: Joe Judge to the Giants and Matt “Not the Rooney” Rhule to the Panthers.

The Browns have yet to fill their job. Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh are candidates and either would expand the league’s tiny diversity pool.

That provides context for viewing the Microsoft commercial featuring 49ers assistant coach Katie Sowers. The ad started airing recently and has opened a lot of eyes. Many, even locally, weren’t aware the 49ers employ a female coach. Not mentioned in the ad: She also is the first openly gay coach, male or female, in the league.

In 2017, Sowers, at the invitation of new head coach Kyle Shanahan, applied for the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. It turned into a full-time job; she is in her third season with the team.

“She’s been tremendous,” quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said. “She’s feisty, man. Katie is awesome out there. She’ll get after guys and it’s fun to be around.”

Sowers is part of an inclusive, tight-knit group. Shanahan has built a culture that values hard work and football knowledge.

“He’s so confident in what he knows, but so willing to accept what other people have to say,” Sowers told me in 2018. “He doesn’t put on a front.”

That culture of inclusiveness isn’t widespread in the NFL.

“The owners still look a certain way and still come from a very old background,” 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said. “No matter how much you say, ‘Oh the Rooney Rule,’ the coaches still look a certain way. It’s unfortunate because there are a lot of qualified coaches that deserve a job.

“Sometimes this game gets into a cycle. It’s old school, like at the (NFL) combine. The (40-yard dash) is obsolete and dumb. The All-Pro team is full of guys who didn’t go to the combine and kill it. Coaching is the same. You can be terrible as a head coach, but you’ll get recycled back if you look a certain way.”

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Sherman said Saleh is qualified to be a head coach.

“At the end of day, the people who make those decisions aren’t hiring people of color very often,” he said.

“The people who could change this make billions and billions. And they could care less.”

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion