NFL Teams mandated to hire minority coach as offensive assistant

[f0neguy]

   I’ll preface this with I’m a white guy.   This seems similar to the Rooney rule in that the league is is exposing minorities to upper level positions without giving them a real shot at success.

   From the outside it looks like a big part of these promotions is based on who you know.

   I think the league should be encouraging minority (and female) hiring at the entry level positions; QC, RB, LB, OL, DL, whatever.  Same for the administrative side.

   Get these folks into the system to learn but more importantly, to network and start building relationships.

   As people prove their abilities and make a name for themselves they’ll move up.   It won’t happen fast but the right thing rarely does.

[BigAl2526]

3 hours ago, Lost said:

Unpopular opinion - Equity is racism.

 

  I support minority candidates getting more coaching positions but I don't like the idea of mandating such things as it could create an eventual artificial disparity amongst coaching staff in the league.   I don't know the numbers here but what if only 5% of the potential applicants seeking coaching positions are minority in some instances?  What if a team has no minority candidates currently seeking a position within their organization?   In a few years we're could be looking at a situation where minority coaches are 40-50% of all coaching staff when maybe 10-15% of individuals seeking coaching positions are minority.   I think its a better representation of the league and society in general to have the number of minority coaches actually representative of the percentage who are seeking position vs. a forced arbitrary number.  if 60% of of applicants are minority then it makes much more sense for the coaching staff makeup to also be around 60%

 

okay, flame away

My brother once was anxious about the possibilities of gaining admission to the medical school of his choice because they had a quota system in place to ensure they had at least a minimum number of minority students.  It would be possible that minority applicants with a lower GPA than my brother would gain admission and my brother wouldn't.  We, his family, wrestled with those same thoughts.  By the way, he was admitted and had a 35 year career as a doctor, from which he recently retired.  In a perfect world hiring and admission to college and anything else that is supposedly based on merit really was.  Even in the NFL where there is such a strong minority presence overall, there are still areas where minorities are under represented.  There are plenty of minority coaching candidates with high levels of innate ability and potential for greatness, but as in every area where systemic racism has been in place from the beginning, there tends to be a disparity in the level of experience.  There is an old tradition in the NFL of being a "good old boys" society in the realm of coaching.  It's not conscious racism per se.  People just hire the people they know.  The coaches with experience tend to get recycled over and over again and because there are still a lot more white coaches with years of experience, they tend to get hired when there is an opening.  They are mostly white.  

 

While it might be argued that mandating a hiring be a minority is a case of two wrongs to attempt a "right" outcome, nobody has come up with a better way to start breaking down a system that has lasted since the beginning of the league which limits the opportunities of minorities in coaching.

[Patrick Duffy]

2 hours ago, Santana said:

As a black man, these kind of rules make a mockery of black people/people of color candidates. I understand what the NFL is trying to do and that is to "Save face". The problem is that they keep trying to make the NFL more diverse from the coaching level up. It doesn't work that way and it hasn't worked that way. I personally think that the owners need to hire more diverse candidates at the higher executive level (Director of PPP, VP, Presidents, Director of college scouting, Senior VP of player personnel/development). Then just let the diversity naturally trickle down to the coaching level. Idk it's just kind of counter intuitive. It creates this narrative that people of color or women are only hired because of a forced rule rather than them just being qualified for the job. 

Agree......well said

[DasNootz]

For those claiming that this is racist - it doesn’t require that any individual position be filled only by a minority candidate.  Teams can simply create an “offensive assistant” position.  It creates a mentorship program.

 

Intelligence and ability are distributed equally - opportunity is not. How many current head coaches and prominent assistant coaches are 2nd generation?  It’s not that hey are genetically better fits - they were given exposure and access to a limited opportunity and capitalized. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by DasNootz

[DrW]

Since introduction of the NFL commissioner position in 1941, all commissioners have been white males. Roger, why don't you step down and make place for a minority commissioner?

[RyanC883]

5 hours ago, UKBillFan said:

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-forming-new-committee-to-review-league-and-team-policies-regarding-diversity
 

Plus other changes noted. I guess we meet the criteria as Kelly Skipper is our Running Backs coach? In theory, it’s a positive step for the NFL.

 

um, it’s an illegal step. 

[Santana]

1 hour ago, ProcessAccepted said:

What viable solution would you suggest. Looking at the current coach development pipeline there does seem to be evidence that it's not working.

Personally I don't think any rule should be in place forcing clubs to institute any kind of hiring. What I think needs to happen is that the owners should have to attend classes on why diversity in coaching provides a competitive advantage. Although were are all the same, we still have differences in how we process information and how we view and see the game. Forcing the owners to hire people just based on color/sex/race isn't appealing to them. And obviously I don't know any of the owners personally haha but rather just going off of the history of hiring's and the current situation. I just think the NFL needs to let owners know how it can be competitively advantageous rather than penalizing or awarding mid/late round picks.

[Patrick Duffy]

5 minutes ago, DrW said:

Since introduction of the NFL commissioner position in 1941, all commissioners have been white males. Roger, why don't you step down and make place for a minority commissioner?

Even if something like that were to happen, I think the owners would still be who selected a replacement and what's the chances a minority is picked in that situation

[ProcessAccepted]

2 minutes ago, Santana said:

Personally I don't think any rule should be in place forcing clubs to institute any kind of hiring. What I think needs to happen is that the owners should have to attend classes on why diversity in coaching provides a competitive advantage. Although were are all the same, we still have differences in how we process information and how we view and see the game. Forcing the owners to hire people just based on color/sex/race isn't appealing to them. And obviously I don't know any of the owners personally haha but rather just going off of the history of hiring's and the current situation. I just think the NFL needs to let owners know how it can be competitively advantageous rather than penalizing or awarding mid/late round picks.

Not trying to be disagreeable but I just don't think that will work. You are correct in that the owners don't currently see value in diversity but I'm not sure that any class they organize will change that. Until there's minority ownership in the league I do think that will change. While not ideal getting people in the room is at least an opportunity for face to face time and to make an impression. 

 

I'm not sure what is the right answer I just feel that they have to try something.   

[Jauronimo]

19 minutes ago, DasNootz said:

For those claiming that this is racist - it doesn’t require that any individual position be filled only by a minority candidate.  Teams can simply create an “offensive assistant” position.  It creates a mentorship program.

 

Intelligence and ability are distributed equally - opportunity is not. How many current head coaches and prominent assistant coaches are 2nd generation?  It’s not that hey are genetically better fits - they were given exposure and access to a limited opportunity and capitalized. 

The thought that some coach's son might have to go get a real job one day because of minority quotas boils my blood.

[Santana]

7 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

Not trying to be disagreeable but I just don't think that will work. You are correct in that the owners don't currently see value in diversity but I'm not sure that any class they organize will change that. Until there's minority ownership in the league I do think that will change. While not ideal getting people in the room is at least an opportunity for face to face time and to make an impression. 

 

I'm not sure what is the right answer I just feel that they have to try something.   

That's true it might not work, very understandable. But what they've been doing for the past 20 something years isn't working and it's actually just getting worse. I guess the main idea is that they have to somehow make diversity appealing to them in a competitively advantageous way. More wins equal more money, that's more than likely the only way get through to billionaires. 

[julian]

2 hours ago, ProcessAccepted said:

I think your logic is a little forced.

Relax!! The NFL is not going to run out of white coaches any time soon. Giving opportunity to others won't hurt the product on the field.

Or there might be some extra talent in the room that leads to innovation...

 

Why do we go to these guys are worthless....

I'm not sure how adding a minority person to the room is racist.

For the same reason adding white applicants over more qualified minority applicants is considered racist.

 

 Like one poster of colour in this thread has already stated, they want the jobs because they were the most qualified, and I trust his opinion is amongst the majority. There are other ways to make sure potential hiring prospects can gain more solid footing within league circles so as to have more opportunities, some of those have already been expressed in this thread.

 

 

[Gugny]

35 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

um, it’s an illegal step. 

 

How is it illegal?

[danc]

3 hours ago, LEBills said:

In a league where 70% of players would be considered minority, the coaching ranks don’t match that. Especially on the offensive side of the ball where most NFL Head Coaching jobs are coming from nowadays.

 

If anything this is trying to fix an artificial disparity between coaching and players that already exists. As far as whether minority people want to apply for a job, I’m sure teams can find one of thousands of retired players who would be willing to take a job in a coaching staff.

 

Whether this works is one thing, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to try this.

I agree that it’s worth a try. Maybe we would find out that more qualified minorities would apply for coaching jobs if they felt they had a real chance to be hired. 

[ProcessAccepted]

5 minutes ago, julian said:

For the same reason adding white applicants over more qualified minority applicants is considered racist.

 

 Like one poster of colour in this thread has already stated, they want the jobs because they were the most qualified, and I trust his opinion is amongst the majority. There are other ways to make sure potential hiring prospects can gain more solid footing within league circles so as to have more opportunities, some of those have already been expressed in this thread.

 

 

When you look at where the opportunities for opportunities to get into coaching and GM pipelines it clear that having a last name like Shanahan or Belichick can be helpful. Not to say that they are not good coaches/coordinators but making room for them in organizations seemed to work out for them and their clubs. I just think that it might be a good thing if a wider selection of people had similar opportunities. 

 

I noticed the way you spelt colour. Where across the pond are you from?

[KDIGGZ]

So equity is ok for coaches but not players? They are all employees of the team. Still waiting for equity in the NBA. I'm practicing my free throws for the day they mandate every team has to have a certain percentage of players like me 😆

[julian]

4 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

When you look at where the opportunities for opportunities to get into coaching and GM pipelines it clear that having a last name like Shanahan or Belichick can be helpful. Not to say that they are not good coaches/coordinators but making room for them in organizations seemed to work out for them and their clubs. I just think that it might be a good thing if a wider selection of people had similar opportunities. 

 

I noticed the way you spelt colour. Where across the pond are you from?

Yes I totally agree on your nepotism angle, that may be a significant detriment to all potential applicants especially minority candidates.

I’m Canadian, kind of British light lol

[Big Turk]

2 hours ago, DCofNC said:

Statistically speaking, women are far less likely to reach the top of a company than males.  There’s any number of reasons that may be, but I’d say it’s fair to suggest there is a underlying bias in the world that plays out negatively for both women and minorities.

 

Yeah there is in regards to salary for sure...although some studies suggest it's because men are more aggressive to negotiate salary whereas women are far less likely to and will accept what is offered.

 

Not sure how much that plays a factor but it definitely plays some factor.

[BigAl2526]

30 minutes ago, julian said:

For the same reason adding white applicants over more qualified minority applicants is considered racist.

 

 Like one poster of colour in this thread has already stated, they want the jobs because they were the most qualified, and I trust his opinion is amongst the majority. There are other ways to make sure potential hiring prospects can gain more solid footing within league circles so as to have more opportunities, some of those have already been expressed in this thread.

 

 

The problem is, "most qualified" is a fairly subjective assessment, and for a long time, experience has been a critical factor.  If the white guys are always going to have the most experience because NFL teams have been hiring white guys since just about forever, how are the minority coach wannabes ever going to get the experience to compete on a level playing field.  It is not a level playing field at the present time because of the experience factor.  How do you level it without rule changes like this one?

[ProcessAccepted]

19 minutes ago, julian said:

Yes I totally agree on your nepotism angle, that may be a significant detriment to all potential applicants especially minority candidates.

I’m Canadian, kind of British light lol

Originally from Ireland so occasionally. When texting back home have to make sure autocorrect leaves the extra u in there or they give me crap 😂