It’s 2011 and here we are, still needing the Rooney Rule. What is the Rooney Rule, you ask? It’s the only safeguard that at least gives minorities the chance to interview for general manager and head coaching jobs in the NFL.
It was named for Pittsburgh Steeler owner Dan Rooney, who chaired the diversity committee in the NFL. Before the Rooney Rule was put into place, the “good old boy” network was alive and well. If there ever was a group that had little regard for minorities in decision-making positions, you can start with the NFL. Their hiring record on this front was abysmal. Now thanks to the rule, it is slightly better.
While some think it opens up the door to minorities to get a job, the spirit of the rule was to give minorities the opportunity to go through the interview process and gain the experience. You can’t take the test if no one tells you what the subject is. While you can count the number of coaches who have patrolled the sidelines under the title of head coach on two hands and a foot, the rule has already worked. Mike Tomlin was a little-known defensive coordinator before he got a chance to interview. Forty-two wins and a Super Bowl championship later, Tomlin would still be calling defenses somewhere had he not interviewed so well that he was the choice of the organization where the rule originated.
Yet it has been suggested locally that the rule has outlived its usefulness. Is that so?
At what point has the trust factor between minorities and ownership soared to a level that they would not go back to the good old days where they hire their friends? The rule continues to be circumvented by those who will hire whomever and give the token interview. For those who allow themselves to be the token, it is a choice only they can make as they may get recommended down the road or there may be some other deal cut for playing along.
Minorities still need the chance, as Ron Rivera was recently named head coach of the Carolina Panthers. The rule not only needs to remain, it needs to be tweaked to slow down the cheaters. How about when the media start to mention names that a team is interested in. How often do you hear a minority’s name? You don’t.
I once worked on the radio with a person who was upset that the Steelers hired Tomlin. “He wasn’t a big name” was his claim. I thought it may have been something else as he continued to grouse. At that point, other than the color of his skin, Mike Tomlin was as well known as the two coaches before him at Pittsburgh in Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. They all have one thing in common: Super Bowl rings as a head coach. I wonder what the excuse would be now.
Spags and his guy?
Steve Spagnuolo is starting to sound like Mike Martz at the end. Martz at the end was a control freak about things that were not necessarily football-related, but it was his call because he had it like that. It was one of things that did in the best coach in the history of pro football in St. Louis.
Now we have Spagnuolo. In two years he has wiped out the chief of security, the PR director, team photographer, team trainer, and now the equipment manager.
Todd Hewitt has been in the Rams organization for 43 years. He has had one job as he took over for his dad Don who ran the room before him. Last week, 43 years ended in 30 seconds, as that was all it took for Spagnuolo to fire him. No real reason given, just he wanted to go in a different direction.
Sports can be a cruel business for more than just the players. People who make the personnel decisions normally state they want their own guy (here we go with the good old boy thing again).
I get it, but what does the equipment manager have to do with wins or losses? The whites not white enough on the uniform? Too much starch in the coaches’ shirts on game day? If only could Todd call a few plays better than what we saw in Seattle, that would be a reason to be fired.
It’s the coach’s call and, like some other games this year, it was a bad one.Â
