How can the niners....

[bruce4life]

Automatically just sign singletary to an extension yet the rams couldnt for haslett... Doesnt seem to fair to me ... I understand the whole black coaching thing but it seems like reverse discrimination if the niners can just sign mike and not have to interview any other coaches....


What our your guys' opinions...

[AvengerRam]

The Rams' contingent deal with Haslett was found by the league to violate the Rooney Rule, which requires that minority candidates be interviewed for open HC jobs.

Singletary is a minority, so I presume the league has no issue with the hiring of a minority candidate without interviewing additional minority candidates.

[GameTime]

I agree with the Rooney Rule 100%. Every vacancy should allow for several candidates to interview in my opinion. What about the Latino or Asian coaches?

[MoonJoe]

Bruce,

I understand your point and I would suggest that they should have to go through the interview process as well. I know it doesn't work that way, but it should in my opinion. I actually think Mr. Singletary would be a great coach and he would have no problem going through the process.

[maineram]

I think that it is a load of garbage. What does it even matter what color, ethnic background a person is. Give me a f...'n break. Next we'll be hearing that women need a chance to be given every opportunity to be a head coach also. (No disrespect meant)

The most qualified person, any organization feels fits their need should get hired, period !!!!!

PC people need to get a life and stop trying to tell everyone else what they think is good for them.

Mind your own F...'n business, and run your own life.

RANT ..............

Maineram -

[Ramblin` Ram]

anti rascism rules where there is no longer the need..IMHO..

[NJ Ramsfan1]

Point #1: The League did us a tremendous favor by rescinding the Haslett contract, as his last nine games show me he is not the coach we need for this franchise to return to respectability. Had the League not done this, it would have been another ill-advised hasty decision by the Rams that probably would come back to bite us in the ass.

Point #2: I have a HUGE problem with anyone telling an owner, president, CEO, etc. that a minority MUST be interviewed. Sports are a business, and the owner should have the absolute right to hire who they want- if they exclude a qualified minority candidate, shame on them, but a mandate only creates acrimony and resentment. Plus, when it comes time to FIRE a minority, another set of potential problems arise- namely every idiot and moron comes out of the woodwork to criticize the move and demand you hire another minority to the post ( i.e. Obama's vacant Senate seat).

I would think quotas and "token" interviews would be more demeaning to minorities than not being interviewed at all.

[smizzhfx]

according to a 2000 us census, african-americans make up 12.3% of the us population.
there are currently 7 african american head coaches in the nfl out of 32 positions. thats 21.9%. there doesn't seem to be an under-representation of african-americans in head coaching jobs in the nfl.. so it begs the question: where is the racism here??

[AvengerRam]

This thread is treading upon dangerous ground, so don't be shocked if the plug is ultimately pulled.

For now, let me say this.

The goal of providing greater opportunities to minority candidates is a good one.

Whether it is necessary or not is open to debate. Certainly, the number of minority HCs does not suggest a problem if you compare it to the overall population of the U.S. On the other hand, if compared to the % of minority players, it could be characterized as a small number.

If you accept that the end is just and necessary, then you must ask whether the means is appropriate. Again, I think it can be debated. Tokenism in the interview process certainly does not equate to equal opportunity. Then again, there are those who would argue that interviewing for a position is a valuable experience, regardless of the outcome.

In the end, I think the league is making an effort. The system is imperfect, but at least its better than the college ranks (which has an abysmal record when it comes to hiring minority HCs).

Discuss.

[unorthodox1999]

all i know is singletary is going to transform that team, so lets get on the ball and get somebody thats going to do the same for us..

[bruce4life]

I think that it is a load of garbage. What does it even matter what color, ethnic background a person is. Give me a f...'n break. Next we'll be hearing that women need a chance to be given every opportunity to be a head coach also. (No disrespect meant)

The most qualified person, any organization feels fits their need should get hired, period !!!!!

PC people need to get a life and stop trying to tell everyone else what they think is good for them.

Mind your own F...'n business, and run your own life.

RANT ..............

Maineram -

That is the exact point I was trying to hit sir. It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are thats why i Believe the Rooney Rule is pathetic. Let the best man receive the job regardless of ethnicty. If someone is more qualified for a certain job be it a business program, project manager, foreman on a construction site, or being AN NFL HEAD COACH let the best man win PERIOD YA DIG?

I understand that this was a touchy subject but I felt i needed to ask you guys because it is relevant in RAM talk

[Goldenfleece]

My take is that when you're talking a position so high up the food chain on a particular career track (there are only 32 NFL head coaching positions in the entire country), you already have a pretty good idea of the small number of qualified individuals for the job and which of them you are interested in. For example, if Cowher is being seriously considered for a position, you might have a hard time finding minority candidate who will waste time being interviewed for a position they know they're not going to get.

I also think that too much money is on the line for a team to choose anyone other than the coach they think will give them the best results on the field.

[ramsanddodgers]

I wonder what the ratio of Scottish or Irish coaches are... Mongolian, Vietnamese, Korean......

Is minority status a matter of skin color (or lack of) or ethnicity?

I (sort of) understand the need to 'level the playing field' but at some point it starts to work against the goal it was supposed to accomplish. The hard part is stopping the train before someone gets run over.

[RamsSB99]

I am sick and tired of minority rights being pushed all the time. I don't believe in discriminating against people because of race, religion, or sex and yes it is reverse discrimination to say that you have to interview a minority. So lets say they keep interviewing black male candidates. Are they then discriminating against Asians because they never interview Asians. Are they discriminating against Latins because they don’t interview them? This is the biggest farce ever. My company actually has to interview a minority candidate as well when they go through the hiring process. Even when they know the exact person they want to promote to the job based on performance. Often they will bring in someone to interview that fits the minority bill with no intention at all of hiring them because they already know whom they want. I don't see this little tap dance routine that people have to go through before hiring a non-minority. I know several minorities that even think its a bunch of BS. I know the postal service used to add points to minorities test. So if a minority and non-minority were taking the same test and scored the same the minority would get points added to their test because of their status this coming out with a higher test score. I can't say that’s still the case anymore but it used to be and not very long ago.

I know several minorities that believe America is fair and don't want treated differently. They want to go their own way and earn what they get without help. Are some of these advancement agencies still needed such as NAACP. I only say that group because it’s the only one that comes to mind but there are other minority groups like that. We don't have any such groups for non-minority. I am not to naive to think that there is not some racism out there but I truly believe if someone feels discriminated against they can find a lawyer that will take up their cause. I feel like sometimes as a non-minority that certain people would not pick me over someone else even if I were more qualified because of that person’s personal preference. Some things that look racist are not always racist.

When can we start living as just Americans? The first step IMO is for businesses to stop classifying people as minority and just start classifying everyone that lives in America as Americans.

[Keenum]

Has discrimination really been a problem in the NFL, or in sports in general, as of recent? I know it was really bad years ago, but I think we have finally got over it, at least for the most part.
If you start to treat one race different, as with more perks just because of skin color, isn't that a type of discrimination towards the other races?
I think it's over complicated. Stop taking stats of black head coaches in football and stuff like that, I really believe that for the most part the best coaches are getting the jobs, and that should really be all that matters.
We will only truly be over racial discrimination or whatever whenever people stop talking about it.