It’s been said before, but it bears repeating, this time by Tony Dungy in yesterday’s New York Times:
… With the progress that has been made in terms of diversity in politics, in other collegiate sports and in professional football — Edwards, Smith and Tomlin all got top jobs in the N.F.L. — why is college football hiring so far behind? At a seminar last spring in Indianapolis with other N.F.L. and college head coaches and university athletic directors, I asked that very question, and was enlightened by the responses of those directors. The biggest factor, they said, was the involvement of other people associated with the universities. It was not just the president and the athletic director who made the hiring decisions — alumni and boosters were involved, and the presidents often felt pressure to hire coaches the boosters would support. [Emphasis added.]
That appears to be the biggest difference between the N.F.L. and the N.C.A.A. in hiring practices. While a university president may have to appease alumni, Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, can hire someone like Tomlin without having to consult anyone else.
That’s out of the mouths of athletic directors, who, as a group, aren’t exactly the most courageous group of folks out there.
And that’s the reason college football needs to find a path like the Rooney Rule for itself. Something is needed to acclimate boosters to the reality of today’s world and ADs need the support of a formal rule to rely on to offset the sort of resistance they face in the hiring process. Not only because it’s fair, but also to avoid having a “solution” forced on it.
Again, look at all the attention being paid to the BCS in DC right now. Is government involvement something that college football wants in the area of minority hiring, too? And for those of you who don’t think it can happen, I have two words for you: Title IX.
Get The Picture 
While I absolutely agree with what you’re saying, I don’t think for a second that the Rooney Rule will work. As much as its certainly not in the best interests of CFB to have a rule of interview standards forced upon it, the same can be said for Boosters.
Taking away Booster power will not be easy, nor come without a price, a hefty one at that for some Universities. We can say all day long that a Rooney Rule is good & needed for CFB ( and I think its definitely something to consider) but as much as you don’t wanna force that upon CFB, you don’t wanna force that upon Boosters as well. Booster power & influence isn’t just involving money.
While I agree with yous opinion a/b a need for change, I think forcing a rule upon anybody (AD or Boosters) will most certainly backfire.
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While I agree with yous opinion a/b a need for change, I think forcing a rule upon anybody (AD or Boosters) will most certainly backfire.
If the feds say a college must hire minority coaches based on a formula of the number of minority kids on scholarship or risk losing all federal funding, I’d say that’s forcing a rule. If the colleges voluntarily agree to a regime where any head coaching hire shall incorporate an interview process that’s more inclusive of minorities, that’s hardly the same thing.
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I’m not sure it would help. “Interviewing” and “hiring” are quite different things, and I’m not even sure one can prove it’s the Rule and not other factors leading to more black NFL coaches.
Auburn talked to Turner Gill AND Rodney Garner, so the Rule would’ve been satisfied. And UT looked destined to run their program off a cliff, so talking to a black guy or two wouldn’t have stopped the Lane Train.
The only way to get more black head coaches is to have more successful black coordinators… which requires more black position coaches… and more black GAs. It’ll take time and it won’t happen overnight, rule or no rule. People like to talk about the Rooney Rule because it seems to “do something”, but in reality I don’t know if that’s really the case.
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“Interviewing” and “hiring” are quite different things, and I’m not even sure one can prove it’s the Rule and not other factors leading to more black NFL coaches.
And yet it’s funny that guys like Dungy and Willingham think the RR has some value.
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To expand on NM’s point, consider this. College football also faces a supply and demand problem with assistants. The NFL is hiring a lot of minority assistant coaches. That depletes the talent pool so to speak.
Do you want to coach in the NFL where your job is to be a positon coach or coordinator and you deal with an owner. Or do you want to coach in college where you have to recruit, worry about students-athletes going to class, deal with NCAA oversight of you entire life and make a gozillion boosters happy.
If your not a head coach, the NFL seems like a better jig to start your career.
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Do you want to coach in the NFL where your job is to be a positon coach or coordinator and you deal with an owner. Or do you want to coach in college where you have to recruit, worry about students-athletes going to class, deal with NCAA oversight of you entire life and make a gozillion boosters happy.
If your not a head coach, the NFL seems like a better jig to start your career.
How is that any different for a minority coach than for a white coach?
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Ugh. Sometimes I really don’t get how you manage to twist meanings. I was very obviously referring to your word choice by using the term “force.”
“Not only because it’s fair, but also to avoid having a “solution” forced on it.”
I’m simply saying Senator, that as you pointed out for one side (CFB), so applies for the other as well (Boosters). In simple terms that means that Boosters will also not take too kindly to having their power & leverage taken away by a new rule. If CFB decides to implement the Rooney Rule, then you take away power from Boosters. In case you haven’t heard, they don’t take too kindly to that & will most certainly show their disdain for such by putting their money where their mouth is.
Its a two way street. The best way is not to force anything upon either side, especially by implementing rule.
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Ally, I’m not trying to twist anything here. I understand what you’re saying about boosters, but there’s already plenty of precedent for reining in some of the more egregious behavior of folks like that. They’re certainly much more limited in what they can do in recruiting these days, but that doesn’t seem to have lessened the financial support too much.
The Rooney Rule isn’t a direction to hire, just to interview. I don’t see why it would ruffle too many feathers, to be honest with you.
Besides, if we do get something in the way of a real requirement from Uncle Sam, it’s likely to be far more reaching than what the schools would implement on their own. And it’ll be the schools, not the boosters, that bear the brunt of it.
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To add to what NM is saying above regarding the successful black coordinators and position coaches. I don’t buy that’s what is preventing minority candidates from being head coaches for a second. Ask Charlie Strong what being a successful black coordinator will do for you when you’re married to a white woman. The Rooney Rule is not about forcing the hands of those that make the decisions. It’s about changing behavior both ways. It allows minority candidates to get the interview experience that they otherwise wouldn’t get so when a job does come up where they are truly in the running so to speak, they don’t blow it in the interview room. Norm Chow is widely considered to be a great offensive mind, but hasn’t gotten a head coaching job because he apparently doesn’t interview well.
To me, the biggest challenge is getting the boosters online with it. I don’t belive they’ll all of a sudden just pull their money and influence out because their school is forced to interview a black candidate. By having a rule implemented the behavior should change over time to where interviewing a minority isn’t seen as simply satisfying some rule, but rather as a way of searching for the best candidate, minority or not. At least that’s my hope. I truly believe that there should be some sort of rule implemented. It’s ridiculous that 80% of the athletes that represent your sport aren’t represented at the highest levels of authority on the sidelines.
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Given that the rule would be adopted equally by and apply equally to all programs, it seems unlikely that boosters would pull their financial support. I could imagine, if a single university or a handful, electively made the switch they would face repercussions, but an across the board change doesn’t seem as likely to cause any reduction in cash flow.
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