BIGGER PROBLEM
As NFL struggles with a lack of diversity, change to the Rooney Rule isn’t enough
The NFL needs a better solution for hiring more Black coaches.
The NFL tweak of the Rooney Rule, rewarding teams that “developed” minority coaches and general managers with draft picks probably is a poor solution.
But the solution is not the problem. The problem is the problem.
Unfortunately, the true solution lies within the hearts and minds of those who have proven they are incapable of being fair and doing what’s right.
That isn’t my opinion. That’s theirs.
NFL owners had so little faith in themselves to do right that they passed the Rooney Rule, which didn’t even require them to be fair in hiring, just have the appearance of an open interview process.
Imagine how pitiful your hiring process is that you felt the need to implement a self-check forcing you to talk to a person of color before making a hire.
It’s like telling your favorite restaurant chain not to accept any meal order from you unless it includes a salad. You don’t trust yourself to order a salad unless it is mandated.
Oh, and the NFL fat cats own the restaurants.
They know their history.
When the Rooney Rule was put forth in 2003, only six Black men, including Fritz Pollard, had been head coaches, and the first Black general manager had just been hired.
NFL owners looked at each other and said, “Y’all are some racists.”
Nearly two decades later, there are five Black head coaches and general managers combined.
Two of those coaches, including the Texans’ Romeo Crennel, took over as interim fill-ins for coaches who were fired.
Sunday’s matchup between the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers will be the only game this season featuring two Black head coaches.
It sure would be nice for such events to not be noteworthy. For that to happen, of course, they must first not be so rare.
Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh),
Brian Flores (Miami) and Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers) were the only Black head coaches when the season began.
The Rockets just hired a Black coach in Stephen Silas, but his coaching philosophy is all anyone in the organization cared about. The franchise hired its first Black coach more than 30 years ago.
The Astros have a Black manager in Dusty Baker, but they have had two before him.
In Crennel, the Texans have the first Black head coach of an NFL team the city of Houston has ever seen, and they had a Black general manager in Rick Smith. But a number of Blacks who were with the organization have pointed out the whitening of the organization when Smith left and Bill O’Brien started hiring his cronies.
Were the Texans hiring the best?
Teams can’t be trusted. That is why the NFL has the Rooney Rule.
It is a near certainty that if he so desires, O’Brien will be an NFL head coach next season. It won’t be because he is white. Were he Black, however, the odds of that happening would be lower.
Studies have shown that regardless of their winning percentages, Black coaches get pushed out earlier and welcomed back slower than their white counterparts.
There always has been an ingrained, accepted level of incompetence among NFL owners. We’re talking about a group of successful businesspeople, or lucky heirs of same, who did not build their fortunes through their football knowledge.
The rehire rate of failed coaches is astonishing but understandable, from a fearful and conservative group where there isn’t a lot of outside-the-box thinking.
Sadly, as was the case with playing a Black man at quarterback, hiring a Black man as a head coach was long considered to be outside-the-box thinking in the NFL.
Racism was acceptable. Pollard, who played with the 1920 Akron Pros, the first recognized NFL champion, was the co-head coach of the team in 1921.
When the league grew, Pollard and other Black players unofficially were banned from the league.
When the Cleveland Rams relocated to Los Angeles in 1946, Black journalists pressured the team to integrate. To protect their lease at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Rams signed Kenny Washington, and Black players were welcomed back to the NFL. Players.
It would be 11 years before a team hired a Black assistant coach, Lowell Perry with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A Black head coach wouldn’t be hired until the Raiders put Art Shell in charge in 1989. There wouldn’t be a Black general manager in the league until the 21st century, when Ozzie Newsome took the position with the Ravens in 2002.
We’re not talking about ancient history here.
Not a lot has changed over the years, and that’s why NFL owners are still trying to figure out a way to force each other to do better.
Their current solution of granting draft picks to teams whose minority coaching and high-level front office personnel are hired by other teams is supposed to incentivize development. It probably isn’t the solution. But the solution is not the problem.