The Rooney Rule proves itself to yet again be nothing more than public relations window dressing. Personally, I do not want Haslett to stick around and hope the Rams look for a different coach. That said, why shouldn’t they be able to promote from within? Just so another minority gets an interview with owners that have no intention of hiring him anyway? What a waste of everybody’s time.
I also think the Rooney Rule seems to have created a safety net for minority coaches already in the league. When you think about it, there are at least 3 coaches in the league right now that should have been blown out long ago: Herm Edwards, Romeo Crennel, and Marvin Lewis. And I can make a legitimate case for Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy as well. The first three are just remarkably inept at game planning, adapting to personnel, managing the game itself, and building teams with character. Smith ought to be glad he plays in a putrid division and that his D somehow scores a TD each week to carry the offense. And Dungy, he got the job based on being a defensive mastermind, yet the defense is consistently the weak link to the team. Yet these coaches seem to get a pass from the media and their owners. I truly believe there is a fear to criticize minority coaches because of the defense the NFL seems to give them.
The Rooney Rule needs to go. Let the owners who spend millions upon millions of dollars to purchase and run their teams, hire the coach they feel gives them the best chance for success. It has nothing to do with race. It has to do with dollars and cents.

Absurd, reactionary. The NFL shatters the Equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment while patting itself on its back for progressive thinking.

Let’s at least try to be reasonable here. Tony Dungy has a .657 winning percentage as an NFL head coach and he won the Super Bowl less than two years ago. He should be fired? Please. Lovie Smith has a .563 winning percentage in Chicago and the Bears are 4-3 and contending this year. He was in the Super Bowl two seasons ago. He’s not worthy of keeping a HC job? Please. Crennel hasn’t been very good, but he won 10 games last season so of course he’d be brought back in 2008. Yeah, Herm Edwards and Marvin Lewis have mediocre records, but if you look around this league you’ll see plenty of mediocre white coaches who keep getting jobs. (Norv Turner. And to a lesser extent, Wade Phillips. I know Phillips has a winning record, but where are the big wins, the kind that put a franchise at a higher level?) There are white coaches who have yet to distinguish themselves in the role who continue to remain employed. Marinelli, Childress, Mangini, Kubiak… Kubiak shows promise, and Mangini did get the Jets into the playoffs his first year. But it’s not as if these guys are ripping it up and winning big. A lot of NFL owners stick by coaches who haven’t delivered. White and black coaches.

-B

>> And so what would be the purpose of forcing the Rams to conduct a bogus interview with a minority candidate?

The same as it’s always been. It isn’t much of a rule if you can easily step around it. Teams have always been able to conduct bogus interviews if that was their desire. I think a better argument is that the rule is no longer necessary, but even that misses the point.

I would ask a totally different question. Doesn’t signing off on a contract that so obviously violates a league rule show total incompetence on the part of management? It’s not like this is some mysterious provision that came out of nowhere to trick the Rams. They really didn’t think that this clause violated the Rooney Rule?

I wonder if this same rule applies to the 49ers.

To Fsuga: Okay….you start off by saying get rid of Haslett????? Really??? Anyway………….. Me being an African American. I wish the Rooney Rule would go as well, so that a team could hire the candidate they feel is experienced enough to help their franchise becom a winning ball club. However, this hasn’t always been then case. By that, I mean not always has equal chance and opprutinity given “WITHOUT” bias to minorities. So that being said, I wish the Rooney Rule, affirmative action wasn’t necessary (and one day it might not be) but until equality is truly “for all” the rules are not just needed, they’re necessary. Now back to X’s and O’s. Like Miklaz said, do you really get rid of a Superbowl winning coach or a coach only 2 years removed from a superbowl like Lovie Smith. Newsflash……you can’t go to the big game every year!!!!!! Seems like you do nothing but watch Sportcenter and base your decisions off “what have you done for me lately.” And as far as Tony Dungy’s D not being Dungy like, talk to the owner of the Colts and Peyton Manning for the reasoning behind that. ($$$$). As for Marvin Lewis and Herm Edwards, I do happen to think they’re a bit on the hot seat (esp. Lewis) but no more than any other white coaches. And again like Miklaz said, Romeo Crennel 10-6, with a subpar performing QB, and a whiny TE. And he’s the one that needs to go??? P.S. I don’t think theirs an African American alive that’s “afraid” of getting criticized (we get it more often than not, deserving or undeserving). Just my opinion. PEACE.

Haslett has a career 48% winning percentage in 6 years as a head coach to go along with a very impressive 1 playoff win. I think locking him up off based on 2 wins, one of which against a team as messed up as Dallas would be reactionary at best, and irresponsible at worst.
Now, the sign of a good coach is one who wins with the players he has. One who squeezes exceptional performance out of players who look like mediocrity on paper. The argument of Dungy having a defense ranked in the bottom half of the league over 60% of the time with Indy because of the owner or Peyton getting a big contract simply proves my point. Thanks for pointing that out for me. Let’s face it, the Colts win the vast majority of their games based on the offense, which Dungy has zip to do with. I’m not saying he’s the worst coach in the league, but why is his seat not even a little bit warm?
And to Bernie’s point, Turner, Phillips, Marinelli and Childress are ALL on the hot seat in the media right now. And they should be. Well, I’m not sure about Phillips as he has a 60% winning percentage for his career, which includes going 1-3 with the Saints in ‘85. Meanwhile Edwards is at 45%, Lewis 48% and Crennel 41%. My point is simply that these guys are not raked over the coals as much as their counterparts. Norv Turner has been “about to be fired” for the last 10 years. And Childress has been blasted everywhere since the season began, yet you hear “what a good guy” Edwards is and “Lewis has some difficult players to work with.” I just think the numbers are color blind, and having guys who are unsuccessful at their jobs more often than successful, should be fired, regardless of color.

I’ll go with the Rooney Rule when the NFL says that at least 50% of each team must consist of caucasians. Think that will happen?

Boy, that was close! What would happen to this country if people were motivated to excel, and rewarded accordingly. Glad the league stepped in and squashed that!!!

Typical liberal feel good policy.