ajk23az;4944348 said:
Keith Armstrong (ST Coach, Falcons) was a very hot commodity this offseason. He has racked up the most interviews of almost anyone.
The Rooney Rule is a complete sham and is pretty pointless.
I used to think the same thing as well. However, I had a person who works for the Jets explain to me the merits of the Rooney Rule.
The Rooney Rule doesn't force people to be hired.
The problem is that people expect to see instantaneous results. For those who are for more minority coaches being hired, they think it's worthless when guys are allowed interviews and don't get hired.
For those who hate the idea, they are afraid that a minority coach will be forced into being hired.
The idea of the Rooney Rule is that it accepts the fact that there is a discrepancy in black players vs. black head coaches. There's also a discrepancy in black assistants vs. black head coaches.
You can't force owners to hire somebody.
However, by getting minority candidates interviews it gets their name out. Maybe they don't get hired the first time with a team, but now the owner is familiar with the coach and maybe down the road they hire him. Or perhaps they will pass along to other owners something like 'hey, we didn't hire him but we were very impressed with him.' And maybe a different owner ends up hiring him based upon that. That is what happened to Tony Dungy and Marvin Lewis.
Lastly, it gives minority candidates the experience of doing these interviews, which are often hours upon hours long. I believe one team did a 9-hour interview with one candidate. The experience will allow the minority candidate the chance to better prepare for future interviews.
Thus, I think the Rooney Rule is valid. It's not perfect, but it's productive if it gets coaches like Marvin Lewis a HC job that they probably would never had received before the Rooney Rule.
YR