REPORT: Fisher on verge of choosing Rams

[Rambos]

Is the Rooney "minority" rule apply for black people? Or for coaches who dont get much recognition. I thought it was just for minor coaches who didn't really have much of a chance to become HC's over other guys, but now im starting to think they meant black coaches...My god thats a dumb, and sort of racist and offensive rule.

The Rooney Rule, established in 2003,[1] requires National Football League teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation opportunities.

The rule is named for Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the chairman of the league's diversity committee, and indirectly the Rooney family in general, due to the Steelers' long history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership roles. From Wikipedia

[sosa39rams]

The Rooney Rule, established in 2003,[1] requires National Football League teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation opportunities.

The rule is named for Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the chairman of the league's diversity committee, and indirectly the Rooney family in general, due to the Steelers' long history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership roles. From Wikipedia

Wow, so it was what I was thinking. Thats pretty dumb, no lie.

[Ramblin` Ram]

i thought the thing with "minority" coaches was for all that could be classed as minority community. so that Vietnamese LB the Cowboys used to have..Dat Ngyuen (or something like that..hard to pay too much attention to what the Cowboys do without producing vomit) native americans etc..they don't get the supposedly special treatment.

maybe it should be called the "Rooney`s lets forget what MLK said about equality and treat afro-americans like disabled children" or "Rooney`s lets promote the slight minority but screw the real minority community people."

i like the Rooney family..especially papa Rooney..i`m sure his intentions was noble..i just think that the rule has probably done as good as it`s gonna do when there seemed to be a major issue with not hiring non-whites. but outdated and rather patronizing now on the persons his intentions were to help.

it`s also like the anti-agism laws that are carried in an official capacity in my country but all that means is that if you are over 60 you basically just have the right to not officially be refused over your age. but that does not in any way stop anyone who doesn't want to employ over 60`s from giving plenty of legally allowed reasons for not hiring you.


True equality or none atall thats what i reckon it should be anyway...

[Fettmaster]

Its a good rule. Debate all you want, but without it, there are a lot less black coaches in the NFL. Minorities still get looked over, just accept it.


As has been said before, the Steelers had their eye on someone else a few years back, but Mike Tomlin unexpectedly blew everyone away and landed the job.

[shower beers]

Its a good rule. Debate all you want, but without it, there are a lot less black coaches in the NFL. Minorities still get looked over, just accept it.


As has been said before, the Steelers had their eye on someone else a few years back, but Mike Tomlin unexpectedly blew everyone away and landed the job.

That's true. And someone else mentioned in another thread about the topic, that they may be only fulfilling a requirement to interview a minority, but the person is at least getting the opportunity to interview well, and word gets around the league about stuff like that. It could lead to an opportunity elsewhere that may have never come about otherwise.

[NJ Ramsfan1]

Yes, I posted something on another thread a few days ago- while I understand people thinking this rule is offensive because of the implications of a "token" interview, it is a rule that was put in place to ensure minority candidates were getting interview opportunities for head coaching positions. It is because of past discrimination (i.e. blacks aren't smart enough to be head coaches) that the mandate came about. And in a league that is over 75% African-American, asking owners to interview 1 MINORITY during the interview process really isn't a big deal- and can lead to someone getting a head coaching gig that they may otherwise not have gotten.

[svh01]

[QUOTE=Ramblin` Ram;411543]i thought the thing with "minority" coaches was for all that could be classed as minority community. so that Vietnamese LB the Cowboys used to have..Dat Ngyuen (or something like that..hard to pay too much attention to what the Cowboys do without producing vomit) native americans etc..they don't get the supposedly special treatment.maybe it should be called the "Rooney`s lets forget what MLK said about equality and treat afro-americans like disabled children" or "Rooney`s lets promote the slight minority but screw the real minority community people."The rule covers all minorities, not just Blacks. There isnt a lot of other minorities in the football world as players or coaches. So, they will probably will need rule as that changes. As for Black coaches it has improved, but there is still not many in front office positions. Hopefully that will charge and the rule can disappear.

[Goldenfleece]

Yes, I posted something on another thread a few days ago- while I understand people thinking this rule is offensive because of the implications of a "token" interview, it is a rule that was put in place to ensure minority candidates were getting interview opportunities for head coaching positions. It is because of past discrimination (i.e. blacks aren't smart enough to be head coaches) that the mandate came about. And in a league that is over 75% African-American, asking owners to interview 1 MINORITY during the interview process really isn't a big deal- and can lead to someone getting a head coaching gig that they may otherwise not have gotten.

But isn't it a bit degrading? Even when a team is promoting internally or a Hall of Famer is coming out of retirement to coach a team, somebody like Ray Horton or Ray Sherman gets the call. Anybody remember Sherman? He's the wide receivers coach who got "future endeavored" by the Cowboys last off-season shortly after interviewing for their head coaching position. You might remember him for having also interviewed for the Raiders, Rams, and possibly a few other head coaching positions in recent years. Call me crazy, but with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, I can't see many owners changing their minds about a guy with a great reputation around the league if they find out he's black.

You might point to Tomlin as an example of the Rooney Rule working...if the Steelers hadn't already interviewed Rivera that year to satisfy the requirement. Guys like Tony Dungy and Herm Edwards predated the rule. Raheem Morris was promoted internally and wasn't much of a surprise to anybody. Personally, I think it's disingenuous to have certain guys who go around and interview across the country every year while as far as anyone can tell, the teams continue to hire exactly who they would have otherwise.

[DE_Ramfan]

. Call me crazy, but with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, I can't see many owners changing their minds about a guy with a great reputation around the league if they find out he's black.

Racism doesn't have to make sense.

[MoonJoe]

With the Rooney rule you have to look at the "spirit" of it. It has all of the good intentions possible, but the negative backlash is if there is a better candidate who happens to be white, then perhaps it does become a "parade" for the black coach. A sad fact of life is you can't have everything or make everyone happy at any given moment. The positive side of it is does give opportunities for the up and coming black coaches to get the interview process down and hopefully as Dr. King wished, someday this will all fade away and we can all be the Americans he hoped we could be.