No minority head coaches were hired with 8 openings

[carpantherfan84]

I started doing some further research after I read your post. It is still ongoing but still very interesting in regards to what you said. I literally had no idea of the scope of the impact of the social forces at work in regards to this topic. Guess that's a sign of my ignorant upbringing.

Im genuinely glad to hear that. IMO a big reason why conversations like this continue to come up is because of the lack of proper perspective applied to history. If we spoke more about these issues and learned from each other we could understand everybody's view point better. The only problem is that the media has so corrupted the opinions of people that it may have to be left up to our children to take that next step because most people are so close-minded.

[Actionman0z]

IM not a fan of the rooney rule. I am a fan of hiring the best coaches for the job. Seems silly to force teams to interview people just because they are a minority candidate.

[SgtJoo]

This is ridiculous. It's racist to force teams to hire non-white coaches.

[Cam's New Arm]

fuging race cards. gtfo

[KendrickPanther]

The NFL doesn't hire many female coaches or Asian coaches. There's not many middle eastern coaches. It's doesn't mean these people are unwelcome, but circumstances dictate that not many of those types of people want to be NFL head coaches and even fewer of them are qualified.

The example I just gave was extreme. African Americans coaches are much more common and there are more qualified applicants but perhaps still fewer blacks than whites. That is the definition of being in the minority right? Now don't get me wrong, I see this as a problem but I do not see an antagonist with malice in their hearts. We are still recovering from a long history of racism that will take generations to rub off with an eraser. Black coaches in their 50s-60s did not have the same opportunities as white coaches. While I feel the the playing field is level now, its too late. The black coaches are already firmly entrenched in position jobs. Maybe they don't even have the ambition to seek promotions at this stage in their lives. The younger guys are moving up the ranks and they have found success. However it's a simple game of numbers. The way to fix it isn't to hire more black head coaches. It's to hire more black coordinators. Moving up the ladder in the NFL is a process and successful coordinators are most commonly promoted. When a franchise interviews 7 white guys and 1 African American there is no reason to expect a 50/50 split on hirings. Get more qualified minority coordinators out there and the owners will interview them. Owners want to win. Bottom line, it's about winning these days.

It's true that we have 4 current minority head coaches. However if you look at all 32 teams, 6 of them had minority head coaches before their current coach. Think Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oakland. All these guys were hired on merit and fired on merit. To me that's working as intended. (I will say Lovie got a raw deal but he had been with the team forever and they never got that ring).

One last point. There is currently ONE African American Offensive Coordinator in the NFL.

[KendrickPanther]

IM not a fan of the rooney rule. I am a fan of hiring the best coaches for the job. Seems silly to force teams to interview people just because they are a minority candidate.

I get that and I agree in principal. But in practice the Rooney Rule helps. Even if a minority coach goes in for a token interview their name gets plastered on sportscenter and they get to practice an interview with an owner instead of a coach. Having their name promoted and gaining experience is well worth it even if they aren't seriously being considered.

[carpantherfan84]

This is ridiculous. It's racist to force teams to hire non-white coaches.

fuging race cards. gtfo

The rule only forces them to interview candidates. It has only been around since 2003.

[Frosty06306]

This is a pointless issue; people are way too sensitive when it comes to minorities getting jobs in sports.

[carpantherfan84]

The Rooney rule is, was, and always will be fuging retarded. It's actually an insult to people of color since most of them are only getting interviewed because of the rule and have no chance of getting the job regardless. The most qualified candidate usually gets the job regardless of color so maybe fi they want to get hired they should become better qualified instead of expecting handouts based on their skin color.

And the people who claim racism like OP is even worse. I'm a white guy and you don't see me bitching because 90% of runningbacks are black do you? Hell, I might start that though. I propose a new rule where each team must have at least one white RB just because only having blacks is racist.

It only forces them to interview candidates. They only have to interview one. There is nothing in the rule that says they have to hire anybody, this is evidenced by the fact that none were hired.

[panthers55]

When an owner is running a billion dollar business and he has to select the guys who are going to run it, he picks the best guy he can find. He will have his own criteria for picking who he thinks is best based on the available choices. Telling him that he has to have quotas or forced interviews based on the Rooney Rule will force him to include minority candidates but won't guarantee than any are chosen. Does it force him to widen his perspective? Yes. Is there a chance that through the process of identifying and choosing minority candidates you might have an owner unexpectedly find a candidate who is better than the ones he had in mind otherwise? Certainly. But the owners are going to pick who they think is best and if they pick a minority like Richardson did with Rivera, it will because he is the best guy he can find regardless of other criteria. If Rivera had been fired, would it be because he was a minority or because he didn't win enough games.

Each owner has his own type of biases that include a lot more things than race. What kind of system do you want? Does this guy fit your philosophy. Do you want a former player or is playing experience not important? Do you want a young upcoming star or a proven commodity. The fact that no minority guy was chosen was likely coincidental rather than due to systemic racial bias.

[SgtJoo]

The rule only forces them to interview candidates. It has only been around since 2003.

I'm talking about this part:

We have already started the process of developing a plan for additional steps that will better ensure more diversity and inclusion on a regular basis in our hiring results. We look forward to discussing these steps with our advisers to ensure that our employment, development and equal opportunity programs are both robust and successful."

[carpantherfan84]

I'm talking about this part:

in the history of the NFL there have been literally hundreds of men to coach in the NFL. Out of those hundreds, 21 have been African American. 21 out of hundreds. 14 of those 21 have been since the Rooney rule in 2003. You can draw your own conclusions, from those numbers. I however saw no evidence that the owners had any desire to diversify before the Rooney rule.

The fact is, that yes this is America and the majority of the owners are private businessman running their private business and can basically do as they please with it. However the NFL itself like so many other major industries has grown to the point where its existance has a great impact on the mindset, culture, and behavior of this nation. The decisions they make affect not just you and I as fans but our children as potential players. They represent the endorsements from other major industries as well as the major charities of the world. An entire culture of people that do not all share the same views about what is right and wrong.

Ask yourself honestly, if you were an owner and had lived through the past 60 years of racial tensions in America. You are burdened with the weight of not just your own team but the preservation of the league itself. You have to maintain the support of your fan base, but you also have to make sure you cultivate an environment that must constantly be infused with new talent from ALL walks of life and at ALL levels. But you must do so without alienating ANY part of your constituents. With all this on your plate, is making a promise to at least consider an African American coaching candidate every time really all that bad? Who gives a fug what the media says. Its there job to stir up convo about the league, good and bad.

All you gotta do is promise an interview.

Not a follow up interview.

Not a hire.

1 guy.

1 hour of your time.

and you pick the guy.

[Goondal]

The NFL doesn't hire many female coaches or Asian coaches. There's not many middle eastern coaches. It's doesn't mean these people are unwelcome, but circumstances dictate that not many of those types of people want to be NFL head coaches and even fewer of them are qualified.

The example I just gave was extreme. African Americans coaches are much more common and there are more qualified applicants but perhaps still fewer blacks than whites. That is the definition of being in the minority right? Now don't get me wrong, I see this as a problem but I do not see an antagonist with malice in their hearts. We are still recovering from a long history of racism that will take generations to rub off with an eraser. Black coaches in their 50s-60s did not have the same opportunities as white coaches. While I feel the the playing field is level now, its too late. The black coaches are already firmly entrenched in position jobs. Maybe they don't even have the ambition to seek promotions at this stage in their lives. The younger guys are moving up the ranks and they have found success. However it's a simple game of numbers. The way to fix it isn't to hire more black head coaches. It's to hire more black coordinators. Moving up the ladder in the NFL is a process and successful coordinators are most commonly promoted. When a franchise interviews 7 white guys and 1 African American there is no reason to expect a 50/50 split on hirings. Get more qualified minority coordinators out there and the owners will interview them. Owners want to win. Bottom line, it's about winning these days.

It's true that we have 4 current minority head coaches. However if you look at all 32 teams, 6 of them had minority head coaches before their current coach. Think Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oakland. All these guys were hired on merit and fired on merit. To me that's working as intended. (I will say Lovie got a raw deal but he had been with the team forever and they never got that ring).

One last point. There is currently ONE African American Offensive Coordinator in the NFL.

This is an excellent post, agree totally.

[carpantherfan84]

This is an excellent post, agree totally.

Actually you guys should read up on the history of the Rooney rule. The problem was that there were several Black coordinators and assistant coaches. The concern was that regardless of their successes as coordinators they did not get interviewed. Hence the requirement for the owners to interview at least one.