The Rooney Rule

[klunderbunker]

Now as a lot of you may have heard, Pete Caroll is more or less guaranteed to be the next Seattle Seahawks head coach. Just about everyone on the planet has said this is in the bag and just a matter of time. That's all well and good as the Seahawks have their man and he's interested. Today though, the Seahawks interviewed the Vikings Defensive Coordinator, Leslie Frazier, a blcak man, for their head coaching job. From what I understand, the sole purpose of this was to have a black man interviewed for the job, thereby satisfying the Rooney Rule.

This rule is pointless in situations like this. The Seaahawks have their man, but first they have to have a completely pointless interview with this guy who isn't going to be hired. It wastes both their time and is just there to fill a quote. I understand the theory and it's fine, but in situations like these it's completely pointless. Should there be instances where this rule simply doesn't need to happen?

 

[BooCocky]

Yeah but can you think of it this way, a few years ago when Cowher retired we had our guy, we had the Wiz and if he didn't pan out we were going to give it to Russ Grimm. But we brought in little young Mike Tomlin, who was nothing at Minnesota. And the rest is history, he has playoff wins and a Superbowl title. You never know what is going to happen. Like in the Steelers situation. In 2007 Tomlin was the minority candidate who supposedly had no chance in hell. It gives them a chance for someone to come in and blow them away. Like Tomlin did with the Rooneys.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Now as a lot of you may have heard, Pete Caroll is more or less guaranteed to be the next Seattle Seahawks head coach. Just about everyone on the planet has said this is in the bag and just a matter of time. That's all well and good as the Seahawks have their man and he's interested. Today though, the Seahawks interviewed the Vikings Defensive Coordinator, Leslie Frazier, a blcak man, for their head coaching job. From what I understand, the sole purpose of this was to have a black man interviewed for the job, thereby satisfying the Rooney Rule.

This rule is pointless in situations like this. The Seaahawks have their man, but first they have to have a completely pointless interview with this guy who isn't going to be hired. It wastes both their time and is just there to fill a quote. I understand the theory and it's fine, but in situations like these it's completely pointless. Should there be instances where this rule simply doesn't need to happen?

I guess if you know you are going to fire your coach during a season and you have already handpicked one, then I guess the Rooney Rule wouldn't really matter. I think the Rooney Rule is more of a issue in college football than it is in professional football because in college, you have successors being named when the current head coach isn't going to retire in four or five years.

 

[NSL]

The rule is a joke, and to be honest, quite racist. It's condescending to a black man to get a phone call, saying he's got an interview to be an NFL head coach, not because he has the skills necessary to fill the position, but because the league wants to cater to minorities and make them feel special.

I'm completely behind hiring more minorities in the NFL, but I don't think a rule should be made to force it. If someone has the ability to take the job, they'll take it, regardless of color.

 

[JayBriscoe2010]

The rule is a joke, and to be honest, quite racist. It's condescending to a black man to get a phone call, saying he's got an interview to be an NFL head coach, not because he has the skills necessary to fill the position, but because the league wants to cater to minorities and make them feel special.

I'm completely behind hiring more minorities in the NFL, but I don't think a rule should be made to force it. If someone has the ability to take the job, they'll take it, regardless of color.

100% agreed! I dont mean to "offend" anyone, well wait I really dont care. But yeah, I dont see why it's a big issue. The real racism seems to be singling someone out or having a rule based on race in general, that goes with any race and whatever they do in life.

 

[Ty Burna]

It's pretty much a pointless rule with a few surprise results. Mike Tomlin is one of them. As the Defensive Coordinator for the Vikings he got calls from colleges to interview for their head coaching vacancies. However that was nothing more than a token interview. Meanwhile he also was interviewed for the Steelers job as well as the Dolphins. Cam Cameron was basically the given successor in Miami so Tomlin was again a token interview. I was expecting the Steelers interview to go the same route and Tomlin would return as Vikes D-Coordinator. That didn't happen and I really think you have to attribute that to Rooney always thinking outside the box as far as his head coaches go.

As for Lezlie Frasier, I feel bad for him. He's basically putting up with what Tomlin did a few years ago. When it was reported that Seattle requested a chance to interview him, it was treated at the time as a serious interest. That quickly faded however when it became clear Seattle was able to lure Carroll away from USC. If I remember correctly Frazier has interviewed for at least 7 head coaching vacancies and has never been a serious contender for any of them. Hell I was hoping Childress would get canned so Frazier could step up and be our Head Coach, but that won't happen now.

If you were in Frazier's shoes, at what point would you simply stop going to these interviews? I realize the chance to head coach is tempting, but it's clear these organizations are just using him to fulfill their obligation to the Rooney Rule. The rule has bee pretty ineffective, with a few exceptions that it actually succeeded in helping a team find a coach. So either eliminate it all together, actually yes just get rid of it. There's no real way of forcing teams to hire someone that they don't want as a head coach so why force them to interview someone they'll never seriously consider for the position?

 

[Theo Mays]

I didn't think Frazier interviewed for Seattle. I could have sworn he canceled because he didn't think he was being interviewed seriously. Either way I have no problem with the rule. Don't like it or hate it.

But back to Leslie Frazier I do believe he will get the Bills job. I'm pretty sure he finished 2nd for the Rams job before losing it to Spags. I think he will make a good head coach, he has that kind of attitude.

The rule needs some tweaking though. If a team knows there coach, there is no need to schedule an interview with someone just to satisfy the rule. But if you have no idea where you are going, then yes the rule should be implemented.