Haslett's contract voided

[RamWraith]

Rams not yet able to hire Haslett full-time as league voids contract
Oct. 25, 2008
By Pete Prisco


The St. Louis Rams had hoped to hire interim coach Jim Haslett as their full-time coach if he won six games, but that won't happen since the league office has stepped in and voided the contract, according to league sources.
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The NFL office has notified the Rams that the contract that would have made Haslett the full-time coach after this season if he won six games was not in accordance with the Rooney Rule that the league has in place for hiring practices.

The Rooney Rule is aimed at getting more minorities interviewed for jobs, which everybody thinks is a good thing.

But the question here is this: How can the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts name their successors without adhering to the Rooney Rule, while Haslett and the Rams are being subject to it?

Haslett has won his first two games as coach of the Rams, both big upsets of Washington and Dallas, which is why the Rams are believed to be leaning toward hiring him no matter what happens the rest of the way.

The clause regarding winning six games was put in before the two upsets. With Haslett four victories away from it, the league notified the Rams this week that the contract was voided.

According to sources, the contention by the league is that the decisions to name Jim Caldwell the successor in Indianapolis and Jim Mora the successor in Seattle were done in the offseason. That makes them different situations.

The Rams can still hire Haslett full-time, but will have to wait until the offseason

[AtlantaRamFan]

Either way it's really retarded. I agree with the concept of the rule and pushing equality, but life isn't black and white (no pun intended) and this is a rule that should allow for exceptions like interim coaches . If Haslett keeps this up, I hope this rule doesn't get in the way for us keeping him..

[MauiRam]

The Rams can still hire Haslett full-time, but will have to wait until the offseason

In other words we have to wait until Haz becomes a "free agent" so that other teams can throw a boatload of money at him .. Swell .. I believe the Rooney rule is a good thing in principle, but the way it is implemented should be subjected to further scrutiny IMO. Perhaps the Rams could call Henry Ellard aside and ask him to "interview." I dunno .. Guess we'll find out how much Haslett really wants to be the Rams head coach when the dollars start flying around at season's end. Perhaps I am jumping the gun though if the last 2 games end up being a fluke. I choose to believe otherwise though ..

[moloch41]

I'm not saying that they should sign Haslett long term or that the 6 wins clause is a good one, but this Rooney rule is silly. If I were a minority canidate, I would like to think I was getting an interview because the team thought highly of me- not because they're forced to and I'm filling a quota.

[Ramblin` Ram]

Sometimes the NFL just leaves ya scratching your head thinking ??...

[Azul e Oro]

I don't think it makes any difference except that Haz may get more money in the end. Sounds like the Rams Powers-That-Be are just as unpopular with the NFL as they are with us.

Anybody else notice how often we seem to get retaliatory fines when we have the gall to complain about poor zebra work or dirty plays?

I agree with the spirit of The Rooney rule but it makes a mockery of trying to rid the NFL of racism.We took too long to get past it,if imperfectly, regarding players but the courage and talent of those pioneers made the difference.

I think the same can be said for coaches like Dungy,Smith,et al.

I believe The Rams were the first team to integrate after WW2.

A little ironic that we should be chastised by the NFL in this instance with that in mind. Don't forget Gabriel,first Asian American starting QB and James Harris, first African American.

Yet another reason to be proud of being a Rams fan.

And isn't the point entirely moot if Haslett hasn't performed well enough at the end of the season?

Which is what matters. Performance.

[39thebeast]

Haslett has been doing a good job, but this might work to our adavantage. We have to look at every possible option you never know who may come available in the offseason

[Bar-bq]

I'm not saying that they should sign Haslett long term or that the 6 wins clause is a good one, but this Rooney rule is silly. If I were a minority canidate, I would like to think I was getting an interview because the team thought highly of me- not because they're forced to and I'm filling a quota.

Yes, exactly.

It's the notion of 'the best man for the job' being masked by 'equality of opportunity'. I'd like to think that in this day and age, minority demographics are no longer a determining factor. If you are the best man for the job, then you will be hired.

[btimsah]

If I were the Rams I would take the NFL to court over this. I would make a big deal out of it if I were them. Because the logical fact is, interviewing a few token black candidates whom you know you won't hire is not helping minority candidates.

[RamOfDenmark]

The number of African Americans according to the numbers I've seen is about 12% of the total population. Based on the fact that there are 32 head coaching positions in the NFL 3 to 4 (3.8 to be more exact) of those coaches should be black statistically (ok ok, I know, small sample size and all that).

Based on my quick count we've got 6 black NFL head coaches right now (Lovie Smith, Marvin Lewis, Herm Edwards, Romeo Crennel, Mike Tomlin, Tony Dungy). I'm too lazy to do the same for all the assistant coaches so I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader, but I highly doubt the numbers would look much worse than you'd expect based on the population percentage.

So where's the problem? Or are we talking about other minorities? Cause' you know it's going to be tough to get exactly 0.37 albinos, 1.92 Amish head coaches and so on (numbers pulled out the wazoo for illustration purposes).

Maybe we need a reverse-Rooney rule for WR/RB to benefit white guys. Or alternatively maybe we need to do away with silly quotas and move into the 21st century. You know - whichever makes more sense...

As a sidenote I'm not sure I love the idea of signing Haslett already - it's been great but it's still only 2 games. I won't soon forget the years that his defense has sucked, so in that light it's not so bad we have to wait to sign him. Let's evaluate him at the end of the season and not after 2 games.

[RAMFANRAIDERHATER]

So Rams management and Haslett go behind closed doors and shake on it. "You win 6 games Jim and the job is yours. We'll have to go through the obligatory interview process, but the job is yours."

(shake hands) ...Done deal.

[RamsFanSam]

Unless the NFL requires the whiners to interview at least one white candidate, then the Rams should take the NFL to court and claim reverse discrimination. And this bullcrap about Seattle and Indy being different situations is just that - bullcrap.

Any of our resident attorneys want to handle this?

[ramfan247]

I understand that the rule comes from a good place and that it tries to ensure that teams are giving equal opportunities to ALL potential head coaches. Of course as of right now I want Haslett to stay, but I think he'll definitely be able to stay and get a great contract if the oraganization wants him to in the end, regardless of the rule. I think the rule should stay in tact to enforce fairness through out the league but I also vote for Haslett to stay. Both can coexist!

[UK Ramfan 83]

Sometimes the NFL just leaves ya scratching your head thinking WTF??...

It is a beuracratic organisation of the highest order...

(Just as an aside, Ramdez gave me a violation warning last Sunday, and 2 points for using those three letters that are at the end of your post.

Which I thought was a little harsh to be fair. I see that phrase all the time on here.)

Just a heads up..

[NJ Ramsfan1]

Two thoughts:

1) I've always had a problem with the Rooney Rule. I think the rule has the best of intentions, but I think telling someone who owns a business or in this case a sports franchise that "you have to interview this or that person" is inherently wrong. Racism is wrong and in a perfect world, everyone would give everyone else equal opportunities, but an owner has a right to hire who they want to hire- period. And not for nothing, if I were a black man, I'd be offended that I am going on nothing more than a token interview with approximately zero chance of being hired.

2) Let's cool it with the Jim Haslett love affair. He's one blowout away from people ripping him apart again. This is the guy that half this board was opposed to getting the job "because his defense sucked"; now all of a sudden he's Vince Lombardi. No decisions should be made until season's end. Evaluate the record, the effort and the overall state of the team and then make the decision that is best for the franchise.