The Rooney Rule which requires minority interviews for head coach and executive positions came up again with the hiring of Jon Gruden. Like many liberal social engineering ideas, its flawed and in the long run is destined for failure. Having minority candidates interviewed with no chance of hiring is insulting and demeaning to the folks that the measure tries to help. So the Rooney Rule should be abolished. However, many of my liberal friends might ask how does this address the fact that there are not enough minorities in prominent positions in the NFL? Ok I am a Libertarian and as a general rule I don't believe in meddling. Besides one could also argue that affirmative action is racist by nature by giving preference to one group. My solution would be very simple. Increase the number of minority low level coaches and have them earn they way up like anyone else. By increasing the coaching pool with minorities, you increase the probability of a minority hiring in upper positions. Why not have an actual developmental coaching school run by former retired NFL or NCAA coaches. Even present day coaches could volunteer a little of their time to do seminars. Encourage minority players after retirement to consider coaching. Have students from this developmental coaching school do intern and apprentice type assignments with various NFL teams. While your at it, open this school to anyone who is interested in coaching or an executive career in the NFL. This to me would provide opportunity to minorities and still be a fair and reasonable way of going about it. Oh ya, there is a NFL-NCAA Coaches Academy program already in place. Why can't the NFL and the NCAA put some more dollars in place for this program? Why can't anyone in any walk of life be able to attend this academy? If they can pass the rigors of this academy they should be able to continue their coaching education. The system in place today, the Rooney Rule is a farce and is a waste of time. Increasing the number of qualified minority coaches who are ready to advance to higher levels makes more logical sense. Maybe there is a better way than I suggested, but I hope we can all agree the Rooney Rule is very stupid.
I believe in equality, and forcing a team to interview somebody just because of their skin color is racist. Rooney rule had it's purpose and was a good idea initially, but it no longer makes sense in 2018 when we've had a mixed race president now. African Americans make up about 12-14% of the population and 18% of head coaches are African American, so that sounds about right based on the demographics. In fact it's a little over represented. I say hire the guy that's best for the job. Skin color is irrelevant and I can't believe people still cling to it in this day and age. It's like forcing teams to meet with white running backs prior to signing an African American one. Policies and rules like that are no longer needed. Even if team owners or GMs are racist, it won't change anything. They will interview the minority and then still hire the white guy, so in situations like that it doesn't really help, IMO.
Don't forget that there is a minority owner with the Jaguars. The Rooney Rule served it's purpose at a time but that time has passed. At this point, if anything, the Rooney Rule should be affecting the lower level coaching jobs not the top end ones. As Wilk mentions, get guys in the door and let them earn their way up as things should be. At this point if an owner is willing to not hire the best possible coach based on race then he deserves the inferior result on the field his decision making produces.
The rule should be abolished... Period... favoring/giving preference to one over the other due to their skin color Is Racist... Period.
I don't see a problem with it at all. It gives exposure to people who would have otherwise been passed on completely. They have to interview 1 African American right? Big whoop they spend 2 hours of their busy billionaire lives to interview 1 guy.
I feel sorry for the guys who are dragged in for pro-forma interviews just to satisfy the rule. Because they don't want to ruffle feathers, they go to the interviews, but I'm sure they know they're just being used.
I'm not sure if it has to be an African American since minority does include more than African Americans. But it does seem that African Americans are always mentioned. Again why not spend the resources in getting African Americans and anyone else who wants to be a coach in a well funded NFL-NCAA Coaches Academy program. To me that seems like the most logical thing to do. If an African American attending this program is rated the #1 coaching student and doesn't get a job, you now would have my support or anyone else that this would be unfair. This would provide a measuring stick and fair opportunity for anyone who wants to go into coaching.
That's true, but why shouldn't that "exposure" apply to all races? Surely there are white people that could really use the exposure as well. I just find it racist to require it. I agree about applying it more to assistant and position coaches. Why even have the facade of interviewing a person if you already know you aren't hiring him? It's very flawed and doesn't help at all, IMO. It's similar to affirmative action. In the past it was necessary, but today any race can accomplish pretty much anything and there are numerous examples of this in all walks of life.
I don't know. It seems like there's always plenty of brothers between the stripes. Can't dog the league for trying something to get more of them off the plantation and into the mansion. Cause we all know it ain't going to happen all by itself. It's basically the same problem with any affirmative action program. Is it really the best way to counter long seated institutional discrimination by discriminating in reverse? Probably not. But there's not a plethora of other options out there. Just remember, for those of you who think the NFL is some pure meritocracy, people like Jeff Fisher coached in the NFL for an awful long time.
I'm not a fan of the Rooney Rule and agree with a lot of the arguments against it already delineated in this tread, but to be fair, it has been noted that Mike Tomlin only got an interview with the Steelers because of it, and then he supposedly blew them away.
Guys, racism is over because half the country voted for a black guy for president! I shall tell my black friends they have nothing to fear now while passing through redneck country. The rule had it's purpose at first but I feel like we've moved on to the point where owners aren't being stupid about this. They are hiring whoever they think is the best fit for the job. The whole Jon Gruden situation is stupid because before they started their search, they knew he was the guy they wanted.
Yeah pretty much this. I lol'ed at the person above who declared racism over because we elected a half black President. If anything that just exposed how racist some in this country still are. The rise of Trump, the Alt-Right and Fascism has only reinforced that. As far as the Rooney rule, here is how I feel about it. I think that the intent is noble. While 70% of the players are black, there is a scarcity of HC's that are non-white. But I don't think you can quick-fix that by demanding that minority HC's get interviews. As others have said, teams are obeying the letter of the rule but not always the spirit and in the end , they are going to hire the Coach they want (as they should, IMO). I also think that this rule and others like it can actually de-legitimize minorities who have succeeded purely on merit. There is always that seed of doubt that the person is only in the position they are in because of their race.
Its sort of funny since I just discovered an old essay by my son entitled "Reconstruction and Civil Rights The 2nd Reconstruction" while cleaning out his old room. If you compare what African Americans had to endure in the past versus now, its not even close. Yes there has been much progress but I don't think we will ever reach the "No Racism" utopia. The term racism is used very loosely today and has lost much of its meaning. I sometimes wonder how some of the African Americans from the past would have to say about today's situation.
They don't force people to work for free anymore, they just treat them like complete shit still. No racism.
Where did I declare that racism was over? I said that any race can achieve pretty much anything today, which is a true statement. The Roony Rule is no longer necessary. The demographics in the country pretty much match the demographics of head coaches in the NFL (although NFL has higher %). If you took my argument to mean there is absolutely no racism left, then I don't know what to tell ya. I just don't think this rule helps all that much any more.
Yep and thanks to that, Tomlin is on the Steelers, when he could been a coach of the Jets at some point instead.
The value of the rule didn't make sense to me, but something Steven A Smith (of all people) said made sense to me. The NFL is is very much a boys' club with a lot of retreads. That's fine. However, simply having candidates interview gets them A) Interview Experience & B) Recognition & Exposure. Even if a team like the Raiders was always going to hire Gruden. Going through a full interview cycle with a handful of candidates will make those candidates more likely to get future interviews in a genuine coaching search & also have them better prepared for those future interviews. I see some value in the Rooney Rule, but expanded so that they don't simply have to interview a minority candidate, but perhaps having to interview at least one coordinator & one lower level coach as well. It'll force teams to be more aware of up and coming coaches & management.
