Arena The Official NFL Discussion Thread (Now Featuring Time's Person of the Year, Taylor Swift!)

I don't get the controversy over the Rooney Rule right now, or ever. I don't see how it's not working. Minority coaches are getting interviews, that's all it's supposed to do. It gives minority coaches a chance to impress and maybe steal a job they wouldn't be considered for otherwise. Yeah, obviously the Raiders wanted Gruden from the start, but so what? Other people got a chance to come in and take it away. Isn't the NFL all about competition? Doesn't this just improve the competition for coaching jobs?

A few guys got a chance to get in the mix and get their name out there. Apparently owners and GMs talk to each other fairly often, so it gets around when someone looks good during an interview. If nothing else, the coaches get to work on their interview skills. How is this not a great opportunity for them?

I don't understand people who whine about affirmative action, either. All they're guaranteed is an interview, an opportunity to go in there and win that job based on their interview performance. Isn't that what everyone wants? May the best person win?

It's working great. Guys who otherwise never even get an interview are getting interviews, and sometimes landing jobs. No owner has ever been forced to hire someone they don't want, they can always stick with their guy, they just have to give a minority candidate a chance, that's all. All they're being forced to do is give one damn interview. Is that too much to ask? No.

 

There would a good amount of irony if the Raiders are found to violate the Rooney Rule and penalized accordingly as they have a history in being progressive with hiring minorities with have Tom Flores and Art Shell as head coaches and hiring Amy Trask as CEO.

 

Yeah, Wilbon was making that point last night, that there are some teams that were above reproach growing up in his household -- Dodgers, Raiders, etc. -- and should be given the benefit of the doubt in all cases... but that if there's an actual rule on the books and they didn't follow it, then they have to be punished.

 

Why do you have to make it about race? I don't care about race. People should be hired based on how well they do the job. I'd hire a black, Latino, Asian, white, Arabic etc. if they were the best at what I needed. For there to be a rule like that these days is laughable. Maybe if things were like they were 60-70 years ago this would be a decent rule. But this is way out of date.

 

Hahahahahahahahahaha

 

That's great that you'd hire someone b/c they're the best, no matter their race. Unfortunately not everyone out there is like that.

More importantly, sometimes who "the best" is can be determined by an owner or GM based on...say...who has the better head coaching record right? Which means a minority person who was looked over in the past b/c of race gets looked over *again* b/c they don't have the same experience. Someone who was told years ago "We're not gonna interview you for HC, you're black! This other guy is white!" is now essentially told "We're not gonna interview you for HC, you're only a position coach! This other guy has more HC experience!"

This is why racism is a systemic problem-- you don't even have to be, yourself, racist to participate in it! And that's why the Rooney Rule exists: it's not trying to combat outright racism in hiring (afterall, an outright racist owner probably isn't gonna hire an Arabic coach just b/c the league said to interview one). It's to combat a system, to help people like you-- who want to hire the best person available REGARDLESS of race-- ensure that you get that chance.

To put that black position coach, who might've been overlooked b/c he's only coached QB's or D-line before, in your office so you can go "Damn, this dude was never a HC before but he's the best candidate and I'm gonna give him his first shot at this." Does that make more sense @Chromide?

 

Exhibit A: Mike Tomlin.

 

*watches Juliet piggyback on all of that to make it about the Steelers*

 

That makes sense, but at the same time, it doesn't make sense for cases like the Raiders hiring Gruden. It looks as if they had him pinned for the job in the first place, why would they need to do a purely ceremonial interview with a person of color if they already knew who they were going to get? It seems to me like they didn't do any interviews with anyone else but him because that's who they wanted, and nothing was going to change it. Systemic racism wasn't a factor here imo. Maybe if it were different and they were interviewing a bunch of people......

 

Yeah I agree, just the rule isn't perfect so in scenarios like that-- Mark Davis wanting Gruden period-- the interviews are kinda lip-service for sure.

The issue is more that Mark went and blabbered about how there was a deal in place already. Like wtf dude! Everyone kinda knew, all you had to do was not say anything! But I guess if you cut your hair like that you're maybe not super in-touch with everyone lol.

 

Well, Al Davis was his dad...

 

He must cut his own hair lol.

 

Davis travels back to some tiny barber shop to get the same haircut. I remember reading an article about it haha.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/raiders-owner-mark-davis-bowl-cut-mini-van-2017-1?r=US&IR=T

 

Cmon Eagles win just this one game.

 

Go Eagles! Hopefully Foles has actually settled in and the jitters are gone. Please? Pederson deserves this win.

As for the Raiders and the Rooney Rule... To me the reason it matters is that, even though they obviously knew who they wanted for head coach, they should have had to interview others (minorities included) because some of those people might wind up being good for coordinator positions too. You never know.

Personally, I think the Rooney Rule is the best diversity hiring rule out there and wish it applied to more things. No one's forced to hire someone who isn't qualified or they just don't think is best for it. But it's a way to make sure people at least get in the door who otherwise might not have.

Also, I have to LOL loudly at the notion that the Dodgers should be given a pass on race matters. Really, the team that kicked a bunch of hispanic people out of their homes to build a stadium? Those Dodgers?

 

Yeah, it's totally shocking that a black man's family home at the end of Jim Crow would give a pass to the team that forcibly integrated baseball... go figure!

 

That was some Benny Hill stuff right there. Refs fail, Falcons fail, Eagles fail.

 

Okay, so you're only supposed to care about your own race? Because of Jackie Robinson, it's totally cool to kick Mexican-Americans out of their homes with no choice and almost no compensation? Sorry, that doesn't get a pass in my book I hate when "racial justice" is just about one specific race. Oscars so white also didn't acknowledge that a Mexican man won Best Director that year, because evidently the only minority we should care about is black people?

Now.. Go Eagles. Very glad Pedersen and Foles got that win.

 

lol @ #oscarssowhite when talking about a black household 5 years before the Civil Rights Act was passed, and 6 years before the Selma marches... I'm 100% sure they cared back then.

And the Eagles are going to get killed by whichever team wins tomorrow if they play the same way next week...

 

Sam Bradford activated off of IR ahead of tomorrow's game.

 

Way to go Eagles!

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