By John McMullen
The Phanatic Magazine
When the Miami Dolphins' new head of football operations Bill Parcells, and his even-newer general manager Jeff Ireland, sacrificed Cam Cameron last Thursday, it opened up the door for the dog and pony show that is the NFL's Rooney Rule to visit South Beach.
First a little background...the Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate when looking for a head coach and is named after Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the chairman of the league's diversity committee.
And it's serious business if you dare ignore it. In 2003, the NFL fined the Detroit Lions $200,000 for failure to interview minority candidates after axing Marty Mornhinweg. The Lions immediately hired Steve Mariucci without interviewing anyone else.
Since the Rooney Rule was established, several NFL franchises have hired minority head coaches, most notably the Rooney himself, who hired Mike Tomlin before the 2007 season. That said, no. NFL team has ever admitted that the Rooney Rule contributed to the hiring of a minority.
The Dolphins learned from the Lions fiasco and brought in Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier for the courtesy interview Tuesday, despite already having a wink-wink deal in place with Dallas assistant Tony Sparano, a longtime Parcells favorite. The 'Phins can't announce Sparano as their new coach because the Cowboys are still active in the playoffs.
So Parcells' tact is simple...why not play lip service to the Rooney Rule while waiting.
"I'm just looking forward to sitting down and talking to Bill (Parcells) and Jeff (Ireland) and the owner to get a feel what they're looking for in a head coach," the classy Frazier told the Miami Herald last week after he was contacted.
Problem is, while Frazier was jetting to South Florida, Sparano...I mean the Dolphins were already in the process of hiring David Lee as the team's new quarterbacks coach. And, in case you were wondering, Lee was on Parcells' staff for four years in Dallas, coaching alongside...You guessed it, Sparano.
Do you really think the Fish have any intention of inking a guy like Frazier and forcing a quarterbacks coach down his throat?
The whole process stinks and it's evident Frazier is being used so the Dolphis can avoid a significant fine. Whether that is worth it to Leslie, a good coach whose name has never been included on a head-coaching short list before, can only be answered by the man himself.
Advocates of the Rooney Rule argue any interview for a minority candidate -- sham or not -- can help by getting a name circulated around the league. But that's a specious argument, everyone in the NFL is already well aware of Leslie Frazier and I dare say he is far more known than Sparano.
The Rooney Rule exists for one reason -- public relations.
How else can you explain Parcells circumventing the spirit of one of the NFL's most important rules with such transparency?
9 comments:
implication being: since parcells has already decided on hiring sparano, Miami should just preemptively donate $200,000 to the commission?
or should Miami, for the sake of advancing/improving civil rights and minority relations, provide a more plausible lie? Isn't it enough that Parcells is at least paying lip service to the rules?
In fact, I'd say that they could do a lot worse. They could make it even more obvious, maybe setting up someone even less likely, such as Tiki Barber or even Michael Jordan. The title shouldn't be "Parcells flouts Rooney Rule." Maybe "Parcells Advances Cause of Rooney Rule" or "Parcells Avoids Rooney-Gate." In fact, this issue shouldn't even be important enough to warrant a second glance, since it's just a team trying to follow the rules, not break them. Oh well, hopefully Parcells (and probably Sparano) manage to recover some of the Dolphins' lost dignity next season. I wish them luck.
The Dolphins, as well as any other professional sports franchise, has the right to hire whomever they please to fill whatever position they want. That Rooney Rule in and of itself is a joke and the fact that it is even a rule in the first place is an even BIGGER joke. The reverse discrimination in this country has grown like the plague over the last decade or so. Corporate America has been forced to hire far less qualified, inferior blacks over more qualified white candidates for far too long. Why don't you contact Al Sharpton, the ACLU or some other blackmailing, criminal organization to do something about it instead of just whining like a bitch on your blog?
Too bad the previous post about reverse discrimination isn't as accurate as that person thinks. Reverse discrimination only exist when a Corporation hires someone who is less qualified in order to avoid a potential lawsuit or for some type of goverment kickback. Anyone that is in the minority only wants one thing -- a fair shot to interview, and that's it. Ohh, don't forget that minorities aren't just blacks. They include Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, Women, etc...
Honestly, the Rooney Rule is important even if a "wink-wink" deal is in effect. Frazier has his first interview for head coach. If his track record holds up, he's now recognized as a possible head coaching candidate in circles around the league. Next year, if his name comes up again for a vacancy, a gm/vp of football operations can call Ireland and Parcells and ask about his interview from this year, and then interview him. The Rooney rule is about making sure people get seen. I know people in football, and its a very tight knit group of people. One coach's son will get a full ride to a university, and when that college coach gets canned, he winds up the special teams coach in the nfl. Nepotism runs rampant, and the Rooney Rule makes sure that minorities can break into what was once a closed clique of nfl coaches.
Reverse discrimination would be hiring the most qualified applicant regardless of their minority status.
Obviously any team or owner can follow the letter of the Rooney rule while having no intention of hiring a black head coach, due either to racism or to having chosen someone else in advance. Still, it's a small step in the right direction, it's probably had some effect, and no one has come up with a better approach.
great analysis of the situation. gotta say though, much like the sad state of race relations in the general population, when you have to legislate what ought to be common practice by right of being human, you cannot expect things to work out all that well...
I enjoyed reading your article titled " Parcells Flouts Rooney Rule". I agree with you that Parcells is just using Leslie Frazier as smokescreen. Recently I noticed that the Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator, Todd Haley canclled a interview with the Dolphins probably because he knows what everyone else knows in terms of Parcells having a deal with Tony Sparano already.
Ty Smith
It would be nice if the qualified coach got the job regardless of race, but that fact is that just doesn't happen. This is a step in the right direction with some improvement it could be very effective. Hopefully we can get to a time where rules such as this are no longer needed, but until then these are necessary steps. No one is saying a cetain amount of minority coaches need to be hired, they are just able to get an interview.
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