As I viewed the AFC and NFC Championship games last weekend, I almost instantly had a “retro” moment back to the firing, resignation, permanent sabbatical or “whatchamacallit” of Steelers now ex-offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. The only question I have and have posed for the last three years is what took them so long and does the Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin have any “juice” in regards to hiring and firing?
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The termination could not have been based on Arians’ 2011 body of work because Pittsburgh finished the regular season with an above average record of 12-4. Since everyone has finished slapping their “kill” the defense bumper stickers on broken down vehicles along with donning one of their spare pairs of rose colored glasses, maybe finally the Steelers nation will take an honest look at one of the more Steelers’ questionable hires during the past decade. The precepts of the “Rooney” rule seem to have been thrashed and dashed since the hiring of Tomlin.
From the outset, the hiring was considered faulty because it was supposedly based on the “Rooney” rule which in turn was predicated on the dreaded and despised “affirmative action” concept because as we all know, most African-Americans have to be given opportunities because in the normal work place they would almost never have the skills to secure such positions by their qualifications and merit alone, right? Wrong. When White candidates are awarded positions because of “confirmative” action, you know guys just walking in with little or no experience and still getting the job just because they are White, there is no griping about any racial prerequisites that assured their employment.
The first Black NFL head coach of the modern era, Art Shell was hired in 1990 by the Oakland Raiders after serving as a player and assistant coach for the Raiders for 20 years. Former Colts and Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy had been a head-coaching prospect as early as the 1980s, but he was passed up year after year until he finally was named the head coach of the Buccaneers in 1996. At the time Dungy was 45 years old. Jon Gruden was named head coach of the Raiders at the age of 35 and ex-Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels was hired at 32. Both coaches are White so in their case, there was no need for a “Rooney” rule. Black coaches Herm Edwards (47), Dennis Green (43) and Ray Rhodes (45) were all well over forty before becoming head coaches and are now ex-head coaches. Romeo Crennel, the ex- New England Patriots D-coordinator, ex-Cleveland Browns head coach, ex-Kansas City Chiefs D-coordinator, now the Chiefs head coach is a defensive mastermind yet it took Crennel beating the undefeated Green Bay Packers for him to get another shot.
There is also a different imagery promoted about Black coaches when their demeanor and coaching styles are depicted. When Bill Cowher or current 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh are profiled with the sputum of excitement and harsh words flying, they are defined as emotional and passionate. However, when Black coaches become irritated and display the same traits they are pictured as “angry with an attitude.” In a league where they monitor the color of the shoes that a player wears along with almost everything else, image is obviously the primary motivator for any action or reaction. In a University of Pennsylvania study titled: “Has the NFL’s Rooney Rule Efforts ‘Leveled the Field’ for African American Head Coach Candidates?” Janice F. Madden and Matthew Ruther, who co-authored the study, showed that; “African American National Football League (NFL) head coaches significantly out-performed their White counterparts between 1990 and 2002. They conclude that this evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that African Americans had to be better coaches than Whites in order to be hired as a head coach in the NFL.”
Three teams this season have relieved themselves of head coaches whose skin contained significant amounts of melanin. The Raiders fired Hue Jackson, the Indy Colts gave Jim Caldwell his walking papers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave the pink slip to Raheem Morris. Let’s see if the racial balance remains the same. If the league can entertain, promote and award two brothers Jim and John Harbaugh with head coaching jobs (49ers and Ravens respectively), then why the heck is it so hard to find and hire Black head coaches. Carrie Daklin a correspondent for bleacherreport.com calls the Rooney Rule “ridiculous” and poses the question; “do they [Black coaches] dance better too?” Sure they do and the NFL can sure as hell can find enough Black players. It’s time to quit “fakin’ the funk” and get… real. As far as leveling the playing field for Black NFL coaches; they are for all intents and purposes still “benched” on the sidelines of the hiring process
(Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412-583-6741. Bruce is also the NFL/AFC North analyst on the “Odd Couple Sports Show’ streaming live on Fox Sports radio; WCWA 1230am, Toledo, Ohio, Wednesdays from 11-11:30 a.m.)
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