"First Take" Debate: No Minorities Were Hired To Fill The 8 HC Openings

[PlayTheGame]

On this morning's episode of "First Take" with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, an interesting topic came up that I had not seen addressed anywhere else. 8 Head coaches were recently fired, and 8 new head coaches were brought in. None were a minority. Unsurprisingly, Stephen A. Smith heatedly went off on the topic, while Bayless neither fully agreed or disagreed.

Smith (paraphrasing here) said that it was appalling that no minorities were hired despite the fact that there were 8 HC spots open. He kept saying that he was not accusing anyone of "racism", but I'm personally not sure how you can call out these hiring teams on this matter without hinting at some racism being involved if you have a problem that no minorities were hired.

An interesting note as the debate rolled along: although the subject of the matter was that no "minorities" were hired, Smith almost only said "blacks". He seemed to only have subconciously had a problem with blacks not being hired, and not Hispanics, Asians, etc.

Bayless countered Smith by saying that no serious minority candidates may have been worthy enough to get a HC this offseason, a perfectly valid point. Bayless, to name a few, talked about DC Ray Horton's team going 1-11 down the stretch. Lovie Smith, he said, only reached the playoffs 3 times during almost a decade tenure with a team committed to winning.

Keep in mind, all 8 teams followed the Rooney rule and interviewed at least 1 minority candidate. However, all 8 spots were filled by white men. Smith had a serious problem with this, while Bayless was on the fence and maintained that minority candidates this offseason were not as qualified/no more qualified than those who received HC jobs, and that is just how it happened to shake out.

Do you think the topic of no minorities being selected to fill the open HC jobs is problematic like Stephen A. Smith, or do you think that it is perfectly justifiable like Skip Bayless and it is basically a non-story?

 

[Big Sexy]

This is a non story. The Rooney rule is more then enough to give minority coaches a chance. At the end of the day there aren't as many minority coaches as there are white coaches and that is the biggest reason why there are so few minority head coaches and minority head coaching candidates.

Just look at this season as an example. The only two minority candidates (at least off the top of my head) that had a chance were Ray Horton and Lovie Smith. Horton was really only under serious consideration in Arizona where they made the smart move and went with an offensive coach. Lovie Smith had numerous interviews but teams this season decided to go more with the offensive candidates because that was the biggest need for the majority of the teams looking for a coach. Lovie Smith will likely get a head coaching job next season and Ray Horton will be a bigger candidate next season with another great year under his belt. Other then those two there just weren't many worthy minority head coaching candidates.

 

[The Butcher]

Non-story in my opinion, but the NFL did release a statement expressing disappointment with the lack of minority hires.

I appreciate the intent of the Rooney rule, but quotas and tokenism aren't the answer. I think Dr. King would say that a coach should be hired on his ability to win football games, not the color of his skin.

 

[Brahma_Bull9]

This is a non story. The Rooney rule is more then enough to give minority coaches a chance. At the end of the day there aren't as many minority coaches as there are white coaches and that is the biggest reason why there are so few minority head coaches and minority head coaching candidates.

Just look at this season as an example. The only two minority candidates (at least off the top of my head) that had a chance were Ray Horton and Lovie Smith. Horton was really only under serious consideration in Arizona where they made the smart move and went with an offensive coach. Lovie Smith had numerous interviews but teams this season decided to go more with the offensive candidates because that was the biggest need for the majority of the teams looking for a coach. Lovie Smith will likely get a head coaching job next season and Ray Horton will be a bigger candidate next season with another great year under his belt. Other then those two there just weren't many worthy minority head coaching candidates.

This is it exactly... additionally, there are 3 now, yea I think there should be more but considering that African Americans make up 12% which seems smaller than it is to me, but perhaps that is accurate just the figure I saw. 3 out of 32 is just under 10%, it is not exactly that far off from reflecting the population accurately. I understand this could be considered a false comparison professional athletes, especially in football are predominantly black, and I think with time that will create more African American coaches.

The point is, like you said, Ray Horton and Lovie Smith were the best African American candidates and are defensive minded coaches. Race had nothing to do with it, I as a Bills fan actually wanted Ray Horton if we couldn't get Chip Kelly, and my brother wanted Lovie Smith. I know we aren't influential but the local media and fans, those were the top guys. Not to mention Doug Whaley, who will be the next gm is a black guy under 50. This is completely making something out of nothing.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

One of the things that never gets brought up is the number of white coaches compared to the number of minority coaches. Plus minorities haven't been given the same opportunities as long as whites have, so less of them have had chances to build up resumes.

It should also be noted that Stephan A. Smith plays the race card all the time. I don't want to call him racist, but I know Sly will, he has done it in the past.

I also wish they could focus on the accomplishments of minority coaches. A black coach just coached a Heisman Trophy winner. I don't think that had been done before. The last time I remember news being made over the actual accomplishments of minority coaches was when Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith coached against each other in the Super Bowl.