Instead of forcing teams to have a sham interview with a minority candidate when they already know who they want to hire, the rule should be modified to: If a team is interviewing multiple candidates for the head coaching gig, at least one of them has to be a minority. This way teams that have one and only one candidate in mind for the job don't have to put on a charade.
However I do feel the Rooney rule was more prevalent 10-15 years ago than it is today.
As I said, I would only make an exception to the rule if the team already knows who they want and isn't planning on interviewing anyone.
I know I'm going to get bashed for that, but it's the truth.
If the issue is truly interview experience, there are coaching services available.
Rooney said that the rule had nothing to do with Tomlin's interview or hiring.
I really don’t see why this bothers people. If a black coach feels like they are just going to be interviewed because of some rule they have 2 choices - decline or prepare like crazy and blow the doors off.
Here is the other thing...
Teams are so competitive now and the need to win is so great that if a minority coordinator gives a team the best chance to win... then that team will hire the guy as their head coach no matter what color he is. The premium on winning in this league outweighs any closet racist thoughts that owner may have.
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The premium on winning in this league outweighs any closet racist thoughts that owner may have.
It's not about racism, it's about familiarity. If the owner is a racist, the interview won't make any difference anyway and would be bad training for the minority candidate should they later get a chance with a sincere owner. The problem is you don't need to be a racist to travel in circles where minorities aren't plentiful. And those are the owners targeted by the rule.
like I said, there are so many minority assistants today that they are all known. It is not like it was when the rule was introduced. Traveling in circles where minorities are not plentiful? WTF is that? You are either traveling in "football" circles or you aren't and if you are, then you are getting exposed to ALL of the possible candidates.
It eventually will come to the point where the rule itself is racist in that it says that minorities need "help" because they cannot do it on their own. You already said it is not about racism.
That fact should tell you all you need to know about how needed this rule is, and how seriously as candidates minorities are taken among (also mostly white) managers and owners.
When those percentages start to make more sense you can start calling the rule itself racist, until then it sounds like deflection.
Any rule or law that segregates on the basis of race is racist.
Any rule or law that segregates on the basis of race is racist.
^^ Exactly
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Any rule or law that segregates on the basis of race is racist.
^^ Exactly
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In comment 13782491 fivehead said:
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Any rule or law that segregates on the basis of race is racist.
^^ Exactly
True enough, but this this is a case of integration, not segregation, so I'm not really sure how your statement applies to the subject of this thread.
Absolutely correct Milton. Some of you are confusing a rule that you think is about ‘segregation’ when it’s about ‘intergration’.
But you are seeing successful minority coaches who also weren't successful players more and more. To T-Bone's point, that is a sign of integration.
Steve Wilks is a lot like white assistant coaches. He played college ball at a small school and was moderately successful. Never played in the NFL and started taking position roles at small schools.
He was born and raised in Charlotte which is pretty cool that he came home and was a DC here.
He's very much followed the same path as many assistants. That's really good to see as progress.
That all said, I agree with Milton that it may be time to make some subtle changes to the rule... if not temporarily suspend it for a few years to see if things go back to the way they used to be. If they do, you just reinstall the rule again. But hopefully owners around the league have seen that there are a good amount of minority coaches who are fully capable of being the HC of their teams WITHOUT having being made to see it.
I agree.
Yes, because in the first seven decades of the NFL, there were exactly zero black men qualified to be a HC.