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 😂 

[Ralonzo]

Why offensive assistants? Do they believe they are more easily offended?

[julian]

23 minutes ago, BigAl2526 said:

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?

Agreed, not sure what the answer is on how to get the experience needed to qualify, but I don’t believe simply forcing owners to hire based on skin colour is the solution long term.  Just my opinion of course and reserve the right to change when I gain more knowledge.
 

19 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

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 😂 

Haha family making sure you remember your roots, good on them

[Pecos Bills]

1 hour ago, RyanC883 said:

 

um, it’s an illegal step. 

Considering all 32 teams are on board with this NFL policy, and many of these will be new positions initially funded by the league, who you think would have standing to file suit against it?

Edited March 29, 2022 by BayBuck

[Chandler#81]

What?!? No Irish??🤬

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

What?!? No Irish??🤬

 

They tend to clap too much.

[bigK14094]

3 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

To me, inviting assistant coaches to these league get togethers makes a lot of sense. It allows them to network and it doesn't really "cost" anything to do. So you put out a little more food at the fancy coaches breakfast. 

 

It seems like an easy win

This actually a good idea.  Its always good for the various individuals to know each other before the real evaluations have to occur to make a hire.  The lack of a network is a big disadvantage in hiring situations This is a start on breaking down those societal walls.  Other measures pre hiring assessment also could be considered.  One needs to recognize that putting a billion plus dollar investment in the hands of an individual requires confidence in  making the offer.  Who you know matters as communication up and down the line is critical and the  communications have to be easy, not formal.  Such networking also allows the applicant to decide if they really want to work for a given individual.

Personally, I am indifferent to race in hiring.   Pick the  best candidate, if they perform, great.  If not, fire them and move on to another candidate.

[Chandler#81]

9 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

They tend to clap too much.

That’s racist. REPORTED!

[BigDingus]

Look, I think rules forcing an arbitrary number of minorities to be interviewed/hired/whatever is dumb too, but I wouldn't worry about "oh no, what if they're not qualified enough?" as some people are bringing up.

 

First off, it's just one position on the entire staff, and an ASSISTANT at that. Then when you factor in that nearly 75% of the NFL's 1,700 active players are minorities, surely many are qualified for a position as an assistant, just as the thousands more of retired players interested in coaching could be.

 

Lastly, we all know being best qualified & pure merit isn't how it works anyway. How many assistant coaches & even coordinators are just sons or direct family of coaches already? Clearly, just having a spot on a staff opens up an entire new world of opportunity for these guys by getting their foot in the door, so that's likely what this rule is hoping to promote.

 

Doesn't mean I like it, but half these guys would just as easily hire a potato for an assistant if it had their last name. 

[In Summary]

21 hours ago, Ralonzo said:

Why offensive assistants? Do they believe they are more easily offended?

No, it's because the role of a modern defense is to have only a marginal role in the outcome of a game.

[nucci]

21 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

What?!? No Irish??🤬

I could do the Blazing Saddles line but....

[GunnerBill]

It is interesting because the people who oppose the Rooney Rule often say "the problem isn't racism it is the fact that the league has slanted heavily towards offense and there are not enough black offensive coaches in the pipeline."

 

Then when the NFL tries to tackle that they say "well you can't do that."

 

This is an arbitrary and slightly artificial solution and hopefully it is something that doesn't need to stay beyond a year or two. But it is worth trying. 

22 hours ago, Ralonzo said:

Why offensive assistants? Do they believe they are more easily offended?

 

Because the league is hiring mainly offensive coaches at the moment and there is a lack of minority coaches on the offensive side of the ball, which in turn means fewer offensive coaches getting HC jobs. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

I would just make up a new position like assistant assistant RB coach and hire the hottest chick that interviewed just to show how stupid it is to mandate anything.

[Orlando Tim]

29 minutes ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

I would just make up a new position like assistant assistant RB coach and hire the hottest chick that interviewed just to show how stupid it is to mandate anything.

you are hiring a hot chick to show the NFL how they screwed up? Because that will show Dan Snyder he screwed up! 😀

[TH3]

On 3/29/2022 at 10:24 AM, julian said:

Actually plenty of people of all ethnicities acknowledge racism is bad and don’t subscribe to the theory of eliminating racism with more racism as acceptable practice.

Yaaa...US had slavery 50 years, Constitutional  slavery for 100 years...and another 100 years of legal, legislated racism...that was till active in my lifetime and is 80 percent of the timeline of our countries history.

 

I tend to think white dudes have zero concept on what it is to be a minority in this county.  

[JaCrispy]

Just watch- in a few years, there will be a new rule that says if you have a white HC, the next HC MUST be a minority...And maybe the same for GM...

 

Just have a feeling, this thing isn’t going to stop here, based on how society only seems to judge people on skin color now...

Edited March 30, 2022 by JaCrispy

[Moulds 808080]

Geez i had to earn my job!!!

 

 

[Chicken Boo]

On 3/29/2022 at 8:49 AM, RangerDave said:

Wow.  My take on it is that the NFL acknowledges that equally qualified, or better qualified, minorities are unfairly being denied opportunities based on their skin color (or other minority attribute) and they are trying to rectify that problem.

 

But you do you.

 

Exactly right.  How anyone can be in denial of this given the history NFL coaching and personnel hires is beyond me.

 

Almost 100 years in and Jason Wright, hired by Washington in 2020, is the 1st black team President in NFL history.  Come on, now...

[machine gun kelly]

When in Mgmt I’ve for the last 10 years been pushed hard by management to look for diversity, but was never forced to hire, but one time.  The candidate didn’t workout.  
 

im fine with Mgmt and coaches being pushed to interview candidates, but they shouldn’t be forced to hire.  

[Tanoros]

On 3/29/2022 at 5:16 AM, njbuff said:

So, the NFL is telling minorities they are too stupid to get these jobs on their own merit?

 

Ok

This is what I don’t like about practices like this. I want to get job or be rewarded for my actions, but getting a job based on my race would have me wondering, “did I really earn this”? In a way, it feels like this is cheating people out of a sense of accomplishment. 
 

I work in the construction industry, construction safety specifically. The projects with the best safety rates, are the ones with the best safety culture, everyone is bought in. But that culture is created over night, it takes time and by in by leadership.
 

I see diverse hiring practices in a similar vein. The culture surrounding the hiring of minority candidates needs to be fostered to where those hiring are truly picking the person who is the most qualified, regardless of race/sex. 
 

In this case, the NFL has bad PR surrounding this issue and they are forcing a quick solution in order to change their image, with little thought towards the future. 

[Tanoros]

47 minutes ago, TH3 said:

Yaaa...US had slavery 50 years, Constitutional  slavery for 100 years...and another 100 years of legal, legislated racism...that was till active in my lifetime and is 80 percent of the timeline of our countries history.

 

I tend to think white dudes have zero concept on what it is to be a minority in this county.  

The whole race issue has gone too far currently. I’m married to a non white woman (I’m white), and she is also from a different country. Her and I talk all the time of about the “soft” racism she experiences all the time. When I say soft racism, I mean people being overly nice or going out of there way to make comments about her skin, hair, clothes, whatever. It’s cool that people are nice, but at the same time, it’s so awkward and feels so forced. The funny thing is, it wasn’t this until the last handful of years and we live in a VERY liberal area. When we visit family in non liberal areas, she is treated just like a normal person, no special treatment, but also no aggressive racist treatment either. 
 

The current culture surrounding racism is such that now people are swinging in the opposite direction and being overly nice to those who are non white. That also isn’t right. People are people, and that’s how we as society need to see others. People should be treated based on they are as a person, not race. Also, why does there have to be labels like, “African Americans”, “Chinese Americans”, “latin Americans”, we are all Americans. These labels only further division. 
 

In an effort to solve racism, we are creating more racism. That’s not the answer.