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Rooney Rule: Helping or Hurting?
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The Rooney Rule was established in 2003 by the NFL as a type of affirmative action. The rule basically said that an NFL team must interview a minority candidate for an open NFL head coaching job or Senior Football operation opening. At the time the rule seemed like a good idea. There were only 2 minority coaches in the NFL (Tony Dungy, Herm Edwards) at the time the rule was put in place and the rule has definitely done its job.
However, it has also had some negative consequences. Though it does help minorities, as do most things that help minorities, it can also be viewed as racist in its own sense. A possible interpreted message from the rule is that minorities need to be treated differently on the basis of their skin color because of the rough history of minorities in America. Though, I can not actually speak as a minority (and I would actually like to get the opinion of someone who has dealt by being an ethnic minority in America on this issue) but I do think that treating anyone any different on the basis of their skin color, whether it be better or worse, is a bad thing. Unless there were a rule put in that required a team to interview a non-minority before hiring someone, and I do strongly believe (correct me if I’m wrong) that a bunch of a people would have something to say against that rule, but unless there were a rule that like, I don’t think that there is true ethnic equality in the NFL.
Another negative side effect of this rule is tokenism. It doesn’t always happen, but a lot of times a minority coaching candidate will be brought in just to satisfy the rule. Correct if I’m wrong, but I don’t think tokenism is a good thing. Nowhere has this been more glaring than with the recent hiring of Pete Carroll by the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll had basically had a deal in place to coach the Seahawks, a deal which leaked out of the Seahawks organization and into the public before it could be made official, but before the deal could be made official, the Seahawks had to satisfy the Rooney Rule. So, they interviewed Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, an African-American, who, for whatever reason, maybe he didn’t read the news that said Carroll had all but had the job locked up. A day later, Carroll was hired, and Frazier was left as just a token.
The NFL is now at a point where the negatives of the Rooney Rule now outweigh the positives. There are currently 7 minority head coaches in the NFL who identify as minorities, or 22%. In America, currently 31% of the population identifies as an ethic minority. I know those numbers aren’t exactly the same, but I think its at the point where you can say the Rooney Rule has served its purpose in terms of giving minority coaches their fair representation in the NFL coaching pool. With a higher percentage of today’s coordinators and assistants being minorities, I think we can expect that number to increase in the near future. 2 of the last 3 Super Bowl winning coaches were African Americans and that number has a chance to grow to 3 out of 4 if Jim Caldwell and the Colts win this year over the Saints. In 2007, both Super Bowl head coaches were African Americans. I think it’s safe to say that the amount of good that the Rooney Rule still needs to do for the NFL is less than the negative side effects that come with a rule like the Rooney Rule. I just hope the NFL and the world in general can find a way to be as a racially equally as possible and I think eliminating the Rooney Rule might do that for the NFL. Again, I may be wrong with my assumptions and I would definitely enjoy hearing different opinions on this matter and on race issues in general, especially from someone with experience dealing with issues of race.
Categories: NFL, Rooney Rule, Pete Carroll
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2 Comments
Notice how you see few black pitchers and catchers in the major leagues. Those are two positions that require VERY high intelligence. There is no way you can be a dummy and be a starting catcher in the major leagues, and "dumb pitchers become shortstops" (what my hs varsity coach used to tell me). It's not that blacks don't play these positions in Little League, Pony League, high school, and even some in college, but usually, when a player is drafted and reports to his club's minor league affiliate, he is converted into an outfielder. There are some that believe that some baseball coaches and managers just don't believe blacks (we obviously can't say hispanics, because they largely outnumber blacks in the MLB) are smart enough to pitch and catch in the majors, which is why you see a guy that was a pretty good college pitcher TOLD to play centerfield. This happens with white players as well, but when you think about the number of white players in MLB, there's a much larger selection to choose from. After all, I'd say that starting pitching is one position that is occupied heavily by whites in MLB.
This happens in football too, with black players playing QB in college and being converted into WRs, RBs, TEs, and DBs. Again, you can't be a dummy and be a successful NFL QB, and the stigma is that blacks simply aren't intelligent enough to play QB successfully, even though there are more than a few examples (Moon, Cunningham, Williams, McNabb, McNair, etc). Again, this treatment is not relegated to blacks. Two of the more famous examples of a quarterback being converted to another position are two white guys: Matt Jones (who I actually thought would be a beast of a WR) and Eric Crouch, who had been asked to play safety by the Rams...after winning the Heisman at Nebraska. But, again, with more whites that play QB in college, there is a larger pool to select from.
Even if there are some bullshit interviews, so what. Have you ever had a job interview, heard "We'll give you a call" and said to yourself, "That's bullshit". Same thing. It happens at McDonald's I'm sure. I think most NFL organizations are responsible enough to at least pass a guy's name along even if they aren't interested, or never were. For example, there's a possibility that people in the Seahawks front office dropped a bird in another owner(s) ear that maybe Frazier is worth at least a phone conversation.
You're right when you say that a rule shouldn't be set in place that gives someone an advantage based on their skin color, because essentially, that is a form of racism, albeit not the type that we all think of when we hear the word. But you can't tell me that while watching football before the Rooney Rule, you didn't once wonder why the league had so many black players, yet so few black head coaches and even assistants.
I think the rule has done some good, and just like the bills that get passed in Washington, it needs some tweaking. There are more minorities of color, period, and I wouldn't be surprised to see hispanics and even American Samoans soon getting interviewed regularly for coaching positions in the NFL. You have to commend the NFL for at least having their heart in the right place, as flawed as the rule may be.
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