Time to lose 'Rooney Rule'

In Salem, West Virginia, it’s still against the law to eat candy less than 90 minutes before church services.

Until a week ago, it was illegal for motorists to pump their own gas in parts of Oregon. On Jan.1, stations in Oregon counties with a population of less than 40,000 can offer self-service at the pumps.

I guess you can say — with tongue in cheek — that times are slowly changing.

On a more serious note though, hopefully the National Football League will soon catch up to the modern era and ditch its outdated “Rooney Rule.”

In a nutshell, the rule mandates NFL teams interview minority candidates for head coaching and other top executive positions. It dates back to 2003 and is named after Dan Rooney, the former chairman of the NFL’s diversity committee and owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I’m not disputing the rule might have been beneficial 15 years ago, but now it’s antiquated and archaic. When first instituted, the NFL had only one minority head coach. Today, there are eight with four jobs vacant for now. Plenty more minorities hold coordinator jobs or key personnel positions within the league’s 32 franchises.

Whatever happened to simply hiring the best candidate for a job?

The Oakland Raiders are being investigated for a potential violation of the rule last week when they hired Jon Gruden as the team’s new head coach. Critics say franchise owner Mark Davis met with Gruden in December, about a week before they fired Jack Del Rio, to gauge Gruden’s interest in the job.

Oh, the horror. A team owner identified a great fit for the job, reached out to him, confirmed his own beliefs that he had found the right man and then went ahead and hired him.

Ultimately, the Raiders did interview two minority “candidates” for the post but neither was ever going to get the job. Certainly not after Davis had already lined up Gruden, critics say. The team had to go through the motions just to hire the person they wanted all along.

One of the guys the Raiders interviewed was former University of Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin, who is the offensive coordinator at the University of Southern California. He is black.

Bet that was a thrill, getting a token interview for the job. At the end of the day, it was a waste of both the Raiders’ and Martin’s time.

Martin wasn’t even a candidate for the top job at his alma mater on the college level when the Volunteers were hunting for a new coach last month. They had about 10 guys who either accepted then rejected the job, or interviewed and used it as leverage to negotiate a raise at their current school. Martin wasn’t even considered.

What makes anyone think that the color of someone’s skin should dictate whether they’re a good coach or not? It should be about the résumé and the skills they bring to the table.

In so many ways, the “Rooney Rule” is a form of reverse discrimination. It needs to be kicked to the curb.

Rob Langrell is the publisher of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at: [email protected]