The Rooney Rule is a Joke and it’s time we talked about it
The San Francisco 49ers have received multiple draft picks due to the NFL initiatives to promote minority individuals in positions of power. Former Niners DC Robert Saleh and OC Mike McDaniel (both of whom are POCs) became Head Coaches with the Jets and the Dolphins while Martin Mayhew was promoted to the post of Washington Commanders GM after serving the Niners as their Vice President of Player Personnel. This was the next step in the NFL’s feeble attempt to break down the color barrier that exists for non-players in the league. The Rooney rule was the first step in this attempt which forced NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate in their HC search.
Well today the irritation associated with coaches not getting equal opportunities flared up when the Colts announced that former their former Center and current ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday would be taking the reigns of the team as interim HC. Saturday who is a respected voice in the world of football has zero professional coaching experience and went 20-16 as a High School Coach with a 3-7 record in his final season in 2020. The Colts bypassed John Fox and Gus Bradley for the position, both of whom have NFL HC experience, clearly displaying that Owner Jim Irsay wants someone close to him to guide the team through the rest of the season. All good except Reggie Wayne who played 14 years for the Colts is the current Wide Receivers coach. Wayne who stayed around the team in his post-playing days, taking up volunteer coaching roles before acquiring a full-time gig has way more coaching experience than Saturday and has actually been around the football team.
Maybe Wayne was offered and declined or maybe he didn’t. It really doesn’t matter. This makes one thing clear, white coaches have an easier path to success and face less scrutiny compared to their minority counterparts. Let’s take a look at some examples.
Pittsburg Steelers: Mike Tomlin has yet to have a losing season in the NFL yet multiple media pundits and Steeler fans are calling for his firing. Bill Cowher who posted multiple losing seasons and four AFCCG losses never had to worry about his job security. Tomlin, whose Steelers are currently transitioning into the post-Ben Roethlisberger era seems unable to catch a break despite being able to manage a playoff season with a clearly depleted Big Ben just a year ago and an 8-8 record with Mason Rudolph and Devin Hodges in 2019.
Arizona Cardinals: When GM Steve Keim drafted Josh Rosen in 2018, he raised eyebrows by selecting a QB who clearly didn’t belong in the league. To counter this, Keim gave 20 million to Sam Bradford who started only two games for Arizona. New HC Steve Wilks was in a tough spot with a depleted roster and a team in a clear rebuild. Rosen would take years to mold and the clock was ticking on Larry Fitzgerald. However, Wilks could use this season to lay the foundation for his defensive philosophies and….he was fired after one year. Why? I don’t know. The Cardinals then hired Kliff Kingsbury who was the former Texas Tech HC who got fired for posting 2 winning seasons in 6 years despite having Patrick Mahomes as his QB and was hired as the OC of the USC Trojans before Keim came calling. Kingsbury who has zero NFL coaching experience was then gifted his own QB in first overall pick Kyler Murray and Keim has acquired Deandre Hopkins, JJ Watt, A.J. Green, Rodney Hudson and Zach Ertz to assist in Kingsbury’s cause. The result? One winning season in three years and the Cards are on track for a losing season in 2022. That’s okay though because Keim gave Kingsbury a six-year extension until 2027 this past offseason.
New York Giants: During the Giants 2022 HC search, they requested interviews from former Patriots assistants Brian Daboll and Brian Flores. Flores who is black would make the Giants compliant with the Rooney Rule. On his way to the interview, Flores claims with photographic evidence that his former boss Bill Belichick reached out to congratulate him on getting the job. Only issue is that Belichick meant that text for Daboll and essentially Flores was attending to be compliant. Flores did interview for the job and Daboll was hired. The NFL has cleared the Giants of any wrongdoing but this is a league that made tremendous efforts to thwart investigations into concussions, head injuries and CTE while using every backhanded tactic to avoid paying out compensation to its players. It should also be noted that Belichick has a close relationship with the Giants and the Maras (Owners of the team) as he was their DC for their first two Super Bowl victories.
Minnesota Vikings: Besides Bud Grant, there’s arguably no coach more iconic to the Minnesota Vikings than Dennis Green. From 1992 to 2001, Green commanded one of the most dominating offenses in all of the NFL which at various tenures featured up to seven starting QBs. Cris Carter, Anthony Carter, Randy Moss and Robert Smith all took off during Green’s tenure with John Randle establishing his HOF career. In 9 years, Green never had a losing record, went to the playoffs in 8 of those years despite having Brett Favre and the Packers and Barry Sanders and the Lions in the same division. Green has two NCGCG appearances as well. However, in his 10th season in purple, Green suffered his first losing season and was fired before the end of the year. During his time in Minnesota, rumors sprung up that the Vikings ownership wanted to replace Green with Lou Holtz despite Green’s consistent success, Holtz having a 3-10 pro record, resigning before the season was over and him saying that “God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros.” The Vikings ownership took zero time moving on with Mike Tice once Green was let go. Tice only made the playoffs once and never had over 9 wins in a single year.
Since Green left, Minnesota has only made 2 NFCCGs in 21 years, losing both of them.
Texas A&M: Let’s compare and contrast.
Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M through 57 games: 41-16
Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M through 57 games: 37-20
Kevin Sumlin’s record in his 5 years by year:
11-2
9-4
8-5
8-5
8-5
Jimbo Fisher’s record in his 5 years by year:
9-4
8-5
9-1 (COVID Year)
8-4
3-6 (Currently)
Kevin Sumlin took over a 7-6 team and went 11-2 in his first year. Jimbo Fisher took over a 7-5 team and went 9-4 in his first year. Kevin Sumlin has 7 First round selections, Fisher has 1. Both have an NY6 bowl victory. Both beat Alabama once and both times they were ranked at #1. Only difference is that Fisher is being paid 4.5 million more than Sumlin annually, Sumlin was fired without having a losing season and despite already having a 10 year, 75 million dollar deal, Texas A&M gave Fisher an extension with a pay increase, a 95.5 million dollar buyout clause and a zero dollar payback clause if Fisher leaves on his own accord for another job.
Maryland: When Randy Edsall was at Maryland, his OC was Mike Locksley. Maryland at that time was not a strong program in terms of recruitment. Maryland who hasn’t won a conference title since 2001 had a solid recruiter in their OC who was able to recruit Stefon Diggs and had a verbal commitment from Dwayne Haskins. Haskins grew up an Ohio State Buckeyes fan and the Buckeyes offered him a scholarship. Locksley was able to get Haskins to abandon that dream to come to the DMV. Well, Edsall was fired in 2015 and Locksley became the interim coach. Locksley was let go in favor of D.J. Durkin who in return killed a kid with his brutal practices in the summer. Haskins would de-commit from Maryland and attend Ohio State where he beat out Joe Burrow for the starting job, win the Big 10, the Rose Bowl and become a first-round draft pick. Maryland returned to Locksley with their tale tucked between their legs and gave him the HC job he so rightly deserved after Locksley helped lead Alabama to a National Championship in 2017 where he won the Broyles Award (given to the Nation’s best assistant coach) as well. Now Maryland is off to their best showing since 2009 behind transfer QB Taulia Tagovailoa whom Locksley recruited.
At the end of the day, this isn’t a straight up race issue. This is a who do you know issue. Only problem is that the only people owners know are other white people. Jeff Saturday didn’t get this job because of his skin color, he also didn’t get it because of his resume. This is the long-lasting effect of the institutions put in place that prohibited people of color from being placed in signal-calling/decision-making roles. These same barriers that prohibited POC from being QBs, Centers and MLBs are the ones allowing people to jump the line. These owners who attended the best prep schools in America weren’t interacting with their black classmates because they were black, they weren’t interacting with them because they weren’t there. This all stems from the results of segregation and the redistricting of our school districts.
Black coaches and executives have proven themselves capable time and time again. Tony Dungy won a title with Indy. He coached against Lovie Smith who took the Bears to their second Super Bowl and to 2 NFC championship games. Mike Tomlin went to 3 AFC championship games and went to 2 Super Bowls. He won his in 2009. Art Shell had 1 losing season before he was fired for the first time by the Raiders. Ozzie Newsome won 2 Super Bowls as GM and drafted two HOFers in his first-ever draft. The Browns won their first playoff game of the millennium under GM Andrew Berry. The accomplishments of POC aren’t few because there are few accomplishments but because the opportunities to accomplish greatness aren’t there and that won’t change until a rule like the Rooney rule becomes mundane. Owners shouldn’t need a guideline to interview deserving coaches.
This piece talks about POC but everyone is affected by this decision. Every aspiring coach from every place and race. From every gender or religious affiliation, this move sets a precedent that all you need to do is know someone. I am not mad at Saturday for living a dream we all have, I’m mad at Irsay for crushing the dreams of those who’ve worked so hard because you believe you know more than people who work for this every day. Jim Irsay inherited this team from his father Bob. Bill Polian built the championship squad of the early 2000s so for you to sit there and say you know how to build a football team is a straight lie because you haven’t been able to build a division winner in 8 years and you celebrate making a championship game. Two things are clear. Minority coaches continue to get fewer chances and shorter margins for error compared to their white counterparts and braindead owners like Irsay are the reasons why.
