This politically correct nonsense has awarded the 49ers three 3rd round draft picks for losing Saleh and Mayhew as HC and GM, respectively. It's a freaking joke that they get draft picks because the NFL has deemed some demographic groups more worthy than others of "minority" status. Saleh isn't even black so he qualifies as a minority for Rooney Rule draft picks but not as "black" for all the liberal sportswriters to whine about how there were 7 openings and none have gone to a black coach (so far). Saleh is Lebanese (what ????) and Muslim (double-what ???). Bill Belichick is of Croatian descent, does he count under the Rooney Rule ? How about Don Shula (Hungarian) ? This is a load of crappola that needs to go.
I like the rule as far as giving minorities a chance to interview, however, I do think it's BS to award picks for losing staff members. Especially 3rd rounders.
I don't mind the rule as far as coaching candidates is concerned. There are enough minority players and coaches out there that coaches will come through if given enough opportunities. I'm less convinced of its effectiveness for FO positions. Minority GMs don't seem to get hired often all and it does not seem that many minorities have roles in off field positions. Perhaps a scholarship and opportunity program similar to the international player one might be a better option.
It's a fraud, Sav. 98% of the ticket buyers to NFL games are white, Asian, or Hispanic.....but only 30% of the players. Should the Rooney Rule apply to drafts and starting lineups, too ? It's a joke and probably illegal under the 1964 CRA. The NFL even got laughed at by black coach and GM prospects on their earlier attempts to tilt the playing field, it was so demeaning to qualified black candidates.
WHICH miniorty GM's ? Saleh is Lebanese and Muslim, he counts ? But an Italian-American and Catholic doesn't ? How about Evengelical Christian ? They are CLEARLY underrepresented in key positions. Jews ? Atheists ? Where does this nonsense end ?
The problem with this 'initiative' is the sheer limited scope of control over the game that the NFL actually has. If this was 'Soccer' then you'd apply it all the way down the pyramid so that whilst there is going to be wastage you'd still get a crop of potentials able to compete at the top. As the commish cannot dictate outside the bounds of 32 franchises then I'd rather of seen a mandate saying that a certain percentage of the coaching staff from HC, co-ords, down to positional coaches are 'rooney' hires to try build some mass pool then a top down enforcement that just seems a little.........odd. If you're a GM and your potential pool of hires is Shula, Lombardi, etc or you pretty much have already decided who you want to run your multi-million pound franchise then it just seems dishonest and a little condescending to have to have an interview with someone deemed a minority. Fortunately we got probably the best candidate who luckily ticks the boxes so it's hopefully a moot point for the next +5 years for us
I get what you're saying, but, there is an inordinate amount of black HC when the league is 70% black. I'm curious about what our black TGG members think.
The rooney rule is complete shit and the owners are making a mockery of it. Moreso, in regards to a black candidate like Bieniemy, the goalposts move when it's deemed necessary. So he has a checkered past, but by all accounts, he's been AMAZING in his role with the Chiefs. There have been other white coaches who have checkered pasts, that still get head coaching opportunities. So he doesn't call plays, or involved in the gameplan or he doesn't interview well, yada yada yada. There's always some excuse. I'm over it.
If anything.....WE SHOULD have gotten the 3rd round draft pick, not the 49'ers !! We made him a HC, they continued to "oppress" him as a DC making a measly $2 MM a year.
What's with this asinine rule that you can't interview except on off-weeks and after the Super Bowl ? Clearly, that HURT Bieniemy this year !!
There is no logic in the Rooney Rule other than that it basically says that Minorities arent good enough to be head coaches, therefore a special rule has to be implemented so they become head coaches. Thats an insult to minority coaches. Like others have said to, just because one demographic is underrepresented, doesnt mean its for any reason other than the best being hired. This applies to the players to, should the NFL require teams to draft a certain number of white players because they are underrepresented? People just need to face reality, if the racial makeup of players, headcoaches, QBs is underrepresented for certain groups, its because some people are just better than others at certain things and it has NOTHING to do with race. I highly doubt any team picks head coaches or players based on race, and if they do, they will be punished because their team will suffer from picking race over good talent. The league is designed to punish teams who hire based on race.
I can see the logic in that there is/was a lack of 'minority' coaches reaching the peak and as the NFL isn't responsible for 'the game' in the same way that Football (soccer) associations are then they have only the tools they can work with - 32 Franchises, 32 Coaching teams and 32 owners. They have no mandate over College football so cannot insist the Bama or Clemson institute similar policies to increase the pool and they are somewhat reliant on the positional coach slots to breed those candidates. As long as the hiring cycle has candidates such as Saleh, EB and Leslie Frazier then it's not a super massive problem, but if the cycle has no-name coaches or failures like bowles as the top hires then the tokensim will be hard to avoid.
There are obviously reasons that fourteen or so teams have passed on him over the past two seasons while some of those teams have hired minority coaches. It has nothing to do with his skin color. He must not be a good candidate.
I think you all need to go back to read the Rooney Rule. It’s not targeting just “African-American” like some of you are making it out to be, it s minorities (Asian, Latino, Pacific Islanders, etc). It is to increase awareness on lack of Diversity in coaching and front offices positions. Without it we would not be where we are today though still lacks diversity. In 2013, Ozzie Newsome was the only minority GM. This is just 7-8 years ago. For those who want to remove the Rooney Rule completely, what would be other alternative? It’s one thing to implement changes to Rooney Rule policy, such as updating, removing draft picks, etc but to completely abolish the Rooney Rule because you don’t like it and and because “Saleh is not black” or whatever one is trying to make it out to be is not only insensitive but apparently has a lack of understanding and awareness of what is occurring in in the professional sports.
If Vince Lombardi was reincarnated and Green Bay had a coaching vacancy....they couldn't hire him without talking to other candidates. I guess being Italian doesn't count as a "minority."
The Rooney rule needs to be fixed, but it's there for many good reasons, not the least of which it that it's a sport that is in large part played by minorities yet still owned by a majority of rich old white men from a bygone era who mostly have no real connection to their employees except for the money that lines their pockets. The reason that the hiring interview requirement is not effective is that the owners are used to having lawyers exploit loopholes in rules to always get what they want no matter the intent of the rules in place. The draft pick rewards are actually somewhat effective because it is rewarding teams for employing minority coaches that are effective enough at their position to be hired away for promotions with a different organization, instead of just meeting a quota. BTW, the original post in this thread seems purposely ignorant but maybe unfortunately for the poster it isn't.
He might be a good candidate, but having Mahomes and Reid on his sideline may actually be hurting him....as it’s hard to say how’d he do without the best QB/HC combo in league. I don’t think it’s race/minority is holding him up tho, as you mentioned other minorities have been hired.
