Shirts & Skins: Long Live The Rooney Rule

TAN (The Assimilated Negro) makes jokes and broad sweeping generalizations in Shirts & Skins, his weekly exploration of race and sports. His opinions, like this tagline, may change at any moment.

Is there a more beloved head coach in professional sports than Tony Dungy?

Belichick may be a genius, but falls short on the love meter. Ditto Phil Jackson. Joe Torre was beloved, but the bloom is surely off that rose as he heads to LA, Land of Apathetic fans.

But everyone loves Tony (except the gays). And the decision of The Greatest Black NFL Coach Ever to spend at least one more year steering the Colts, along with the recent MLK holiday, and the arrival of the first black GM in the Super Bowl, and, like, Obama, has that sweet smell of melanin in the air. We are living the dream. Holla!

The interesting sidebar to Dungy's Deal or No Deal drama was learning Jim Caldwell, black man, would assuredly be the next coach after him. That would make Caldwell, who's been with him since the TB days, the first "legacy hire" for black head coaches. The minority "old boys network" just put down their first NFL power move! We're moving Jimmy in, and that's that. The ROC is in the building!

It was only a few years ago (2003) that the NFL felt they had to exercise The Rooney Rule, the NFL's affirmative action coaching policy, and fine the Detroit Lions for not interviewing a minority candidate. Now we're up in Super Bowls, and two black assistant coaches you probably never heard of (Tomlin, Caldwell) have come out of nowhere to land high profile gigs. So what does this mean for The Rooney Rule? If black head coaches are starting to walk on their own, is it time to lose the crutches?

This week we're doing a Rooney Review to determine if we are in need of Rooney Reform. There will be other "R" words. We'll also figure out how to tie Tony Dungy back in since that's what I used to lead off this column. After the jump sexy words and exclamation points about NFL affirmative-action policy making. Aw yeah ...

Reverse Rooney: The Caldwell internal hire is the first opportunity for folks to cry, "Reverse Rooney!" Ahhh, the ol' caucasian canard of anti-white discrimination, it has caused many a cracker to make crazy comments like this, "Can a coach who is Caucasian, like Jim Fassel, now file suit against the NFL and the Colts for their action?" Um, er, um ... no?

Usually in these debates the contextual history is being overlooked. For example in breaking down his rationale, the writer who cries "Reverse Rooney" above says, "I could go into the history of the NFL and show how they've sorely lacked in their hiring of minorities, but that would make for a long, boring post."

Hmm. I agree, that does sound long and boring! Sucks for us minorities! But I think we could give at least give a shot at short and boring...

Rooney Recap: Sometime in late 2002 the late Johnnie Cochran (always helping football players!) and Cyrus Mehri issued a report that revealed 1-2% of head coaches were African-American, in a league consisting of 70-80% African-American players. Furthermore, the black coaches employed at the time (Dennis Green, Art Shell, Tony Dungy, Ray Rhodes, and Herman Edwards) were all awesome, so there were no legit qualitative grounds for this type of imbalance.

That's all you need to know really. The contrast in percentages is ridiculous.

Eventually the NFL formed a diversity committee, the chairman was Steelers owner Dan Rooney, and they forced teams to interview at least one minority candidate, or face a fine. Since its inception we've had a record number of black head coaches (7), and two in the Super Bowl last year. Compare this to the NCAA where they have 6 African-American head coaches out of 119 jobs, and no Rooney Rule, and have been stuck on this ratio for over a decade.

So the rule has been good for the NFL. But another complaint is ...

The Rooney Routine: Some say the rule is less mandate, more guideline. You can't guarantee an interview is "for real," so it creates this notion of tokenism that belittles the process. GM's bring in any ol' black guy, me for example, in for an interview to satisfy the requirement but aren't really giving them consideration. In interviews, presumably, you just see generic black blobs with the word "Rooney" on their forehead.

And it's not just the NFL execs, DC Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg complains that the media is also guilty of labeling black candidates as "Rooney Rule" guys instead of as individual candidates with unique credentials. In this case the issues intersect because a lot of journalists are just keeping it real, as when Peter King writes, "if the Cowboys have another one-and-out exit from the playoffs next season, I think Jerry Jones will take about 10 minutes to fire Phillips, interview one minority candidate and then hire Garrett as his next head coach."

Honestly, the Colts and Dungy should interview Fassel and some other "token majority candidates" just to show that favoritism is an impulse that crosses racial lines.

Royal Rooney: I think Tony Dungy and his broad universal appeal puts us in position to question the continued need for a Rooney Rule. In the same way, Obama poses a risk to the black community by becoming a symbolic cure-all.

But getting rid of the Rooney Rule now would be the equivalent of a player rehabbing an injury and getting on the field before he's full healthy. A few individual achievements do not fix the system.

The past couple years we've had about 20% of the head coaches in the NFL be black. If the NFL's demographics were like that of the country, where African Americans make up 13% of the population, that might be dandy. But in a league where minorities make up the overwhelming majority, standards should be higher.

Seven coaches is the high water mark now. I think we need to double that before we can sat feeling comfortable with the balance of the equation.

We shouldn't be blinded by Dungy and his historical impact; we need to see numbers. We need to see legacies. Until then, long live The Rooney Rule.

This Week's Racial Scoreboard: 1/25/08

The Racial Scoreboard embraces racism-as-sport and awards (or takes away) "Culture Points" based on news that may or may not have anything to do with race. Afterwards we all shake hands and go out for drinks.

Welcome to Negro Bowl II: I was surprised at the lack of attention to Giants GM Jerry Reese, the first African-American GM to make the Super Bowl. The New York Times showed him some love Tuesday, after MLK day, but considering we heard about Dungie/Lovie Smith being the first two African-American head coaches in the Super Bowl ad nauseam, I was surprised it didn't make, for example, Deadspin's list of "six storylines you're already sick of."

Reese, only the 3rd African-American GM in the history of the NFL, was given little more than Tom Coughlin's pounding headache, Eli Manning's "oh" face, and Michael Strahan's cheating heart when Ernie Accorsi stepped down. Fans and media were clamoring for change, and worrying about the loss of Tiki; but Reese stayed the course going 7-7 in the draft (how many key plays have the '07 trifecta of RB Ahmad Bradshaw, WR Steve Smith and TE Kevin Boss made in this run?) and believing in the ingredients he already had in the cupboard. Accorsi laid the blueprint, but Reese as director of player personnel has been right there with him.

Team B: +3 Heathcliff Huxtable Hoagies

Pacman Jones Gets His "Blame The Media" Card: Every black person needs to have their "falsely accused" moment. You get pulled over if you're driving. Or stopped on the street. Or the media frames you as guilty before getting the story. All classic, perhaps now old school, tactics for "The Man" holding the black man down. I've got one. It's a rite of passage, like getting angry at your first noose sighting. You don't want to have to fake it when you start ranting about how you're being held down by the man etc. Now Pacman has a legit Blame the media card!

Team B: +1 Johnnie Cochran rhyming couplet

The Crying Game: Over a week now but we still have to put the Terrell Owens sobbing incident on the scoreboard. People are surprised, but i think we should have seen this coming. He's obviously emotionally fragile, and for the first time in his career he's been accepted for who he is, and has been an integral part of a winning team. Owens has grown up a lot this season, and I think the crying will certify his return to being a sympathetic character. Surly athletes on Team B could learn a lesson from this move. Tears always soften a crowd.
Team B: +5 Bonds on Bonds episodes

No Business Like Noose Business: The Golf Week editor who got fired learned a valuable lesson on magazine covers. Scantily clad women: Yes! Racist paraphernalia: No!

Even the 2007 comeback racist symbol of the year, The Noose™, was going too far. But less a race issue, his getting fired is a win for everyone against pointless sensationalism. Some on Team W are still fighting for points. But I'm calling this a draw: Sharpton looked like an ass, so did the editor. Lose-Lose and no one really cared.

Draw: +1 Magic vs. Larry Debate

The Jackie Robinson of the NHL: Willie O'Ree broke the NHL color-barrier 50 years ago, and was honored in Boston. And will be so honored again at the NHL All Star Game. The Big O made it happen despite losing vision in one of his eyes after an accident in the minors. First black man to play hockey + one good eye = straight up gangster.

Getting his name on the radar's a good look; Willie also gives us the rare opportunity to distinguish between African-American, and Afro-Canadians.

Team B: +10 Tiger Woods fist-pumps

Chow Gets 'Team A' on the Board: Chow got canned, and found it a complete surprise. Going back to UCLA is a risky move since it puts pressure on him to really put big numbers up. In the NFL he might hae been able to tread water and then use the Rooney Rule to his advantage. But really it's just good to see Team A in the game.

Team A: - 1 Yao Ming rookie season.

... And that's all for today. Thanks for playing.