PATRIOTS NEWS Rooney Rule fulfilled - Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton interviewed today

[mgteich]

He was hired right away because Kraft made him the HC in waiting as part of his contract. That allowed Kraft to bypass all hiring rules for NFL HC's including the Rooney Rule. The irony is that if that was not the case, Kraft would have been FORCED to abide by the rule and interview another coach before hiring Mayo, which would have been one of the few safeguards the league could have provided from having the dumb rushed process he had.

This isn't up for debate. This is well established and what factually happened.

So, Kraft should have been forced to have two sham interviews before hiring Mayo who he intended to hire?

The rule forces two interviews, that's it. It does not force a team to consider other candidates if the team know who it wants and the person wants to come.

 

[mgteich]

ohh... so giving a sham interview to 2 different black guys would have been ok, but these black guys it wasn't....

The Patriots HC search is about 2 candidates. We all know who they are. There isn't a black person in the world they could interview where it wasn't an obvious sham.

So, SIX teams are looking for coaches. There are two obvious choices.

Without the rule, no black person would get interviewed until the top 2 candidates made their choices?????????

Utter nonsense.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

He and Kraft could spend hours talking about massages.

I like massages.

 

[mgteich]

Explain how forcing an interview is a problem. In fact explain how it is a moral problem in an industry that is full of nepotism. It literally only gives people visibility. It doesn't mandate a hiring. It doesn't mandate a payday. It mandates an hour long conversation.

The rule gives visibility to those who accept interviews.

The majority position here is that there shouldn't be any forced visibility and that it fine if teams choose to interview only white HC's coordinators, and QB coaches until all the white coaches are hired.
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Maybe it wrong to force some interviews with black coaches who choose to get the visibility. After all, hiring all white staff should be allowed and nothing should be done by the league. Teams should have the freedom to hire who they want. Really? Some folks live in that pre-WWII country. Others do not. The NFL certainly does not.

 

[mike_usagisan]

The flaw to the rooney rule is that when there is an obvious candidate that the owners want to hire before hand. Every interview with a minority candidate is a sham and insulting. Although tbf that would be the case with other random white candidates too. It works best when the search is truly wide open.

Well, and it has to be in person. So the Aaron Glenn one wouldn't have counted, even if it had gone through.

The only coaches the Pats can interview in person right now are coaches from losing teams (why would we interview them?) or coaches who are out of football. We interviewed two who were out of football... but apparently not the right ones according to someone in the media.

The truth is we probably interviewed both for reasons that didn't include the HC job but may include other jobs in the organization. So it's actually really helpful to the pats and the candidates.

The outrage over the sham interviews is a sham as well.

 

[Boogs]

The rule gives visibility to those who accept interviews.

The majority position here is that there shouldn't be any forced visibility and that it fine if teams choose to interview only white HC's coordinators, and QB coaches until all the white coaches are hired.
=======
Maybe it wrong to force some interviews with black coaches who choose to get the visibility. After all, hiring all white staff should be allowed and nothing should be done by the league. Teams should have the freedom to hire who they want. Really? Some folks live in that pre-WWII country. Others do not. The NFL certainly does not.

There is not a problem with hiring a staff that happens to be all white. And it's not a problem to hire a staff that's all black or brown either. Plenty of sports teams, in particular basketball, have had an all-white coaching staff or an all black coaching staff. Our high school football team has an all white staff this year. Just go out and get the best coaching staff you can get, regardless of the skin color of particular coaches. And who cares what the ethnic percentages are for your team's staff

 

[SammyBlueCat]

I wish Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton nothing but the best.

I wonder if they are being interviewed by college teams?

 

[Thelonious]

The solution to racial discrimination is not racial discrimination.This should have been obvious from the start. The Rooney Rule, aside form its immorality, is ineffective. Any increase in black coaches/front office is negligible, and the failure rate of its "beneficiaries" is astronomical.There is for example not a single black offensive coordinator in the league. It will be painful when we eventually get around to an honest analysis of pervasive black failure, and thus with the real nature of an actual solution to the problem, but it is a task which must inevitably be accomplished. Even in chat spaces devoted to political discussion, where I spend most of my time, there is a dearth of actual, direct discussion of the matter.

 

[XLIX]

So, SIX teams are looking for coaches. There are two obvious choices.

I am not talking about "SIX teams", I am talking about the New England Patriots. Every member of this forum knows the Patriots' choice is (and always was) down to 2 people and sorry not sorry but any black candidates interviewed by the Patriots would be a sham interview. As mike_usagisan perfectly stated: "The outrage over the sham interviews is a sham as well."

What part of that is so hard for you to understand? Did I use too many big words?

 

[Grogan14]

I am not talking about "SIX teams", I am talking about the New England Patriots. Every member of this forum knows the Patriots' choice is (and always was) down to 2 people and sorry not sorry but any black candidates interviewed by the Patriots would be a sham interview. As mike_usagisan perfectly stated: "The outrage over the sham interviews is a sham as well."

What part of that is so hard for you to understand? Did I use too many big

I guarantee both Lefwich and Hamilton knew they were Rooney rule interviews yet they still accepted

 

[SammyBlueCat]

I guarantee both Lefwich and Hamilton knew they were Rooney rule interviews yet they still accepted

I also guarantee that the conversations were very good

 

[raduray]

One mitigating factor in Kraft's favor is the NFL's rule that the Rooney rule interviews must be in person coupled with the role that no in-person interviews can be conducted with playoff coaches until later in the playoff process. By conducting in-person interviews with coaches currently out of football, this cleared the way to a quick hire of a non-playoff coach, e.g. Vrabel.

 

[Fubby]

Let’s not forget that just last season the Patriots hired a black coach to be the Head Coach WITHOUT INTERVIEWING A SINGLE OTHER INDIVIDUAL. Plus the defensive coordinator that was selected was also black.

Anyone who is complaining and suggesting the Patriots don’t care about DEI and are disrespecting the Rooney rule, need to shut up. Direct your ire to the rule itself.

 

[KCSVEN]

The Jets interviewed Mike Locksley, University of Maryland head coach who is 32-36 in 5 years there to help satisfy the Rooney rule but for some reason because they are interviewing 14 people, but still need Lockley, so that's not a sham.
Bears are interviewing Thomas Brown, the interim coach even though he's also interviewing for OC positions elsewhere because he has no shot at Bears HC
People actually think Aaron Glenn counts, he can't until it is an in-person interview.

They need to tweak the coaching interview rules so that coaches you want to hire can do in person and satisfy the Rooney rule.
Most assistant coaches you want are very likely in the playoffs. Since you have to interview in person to satisfy the rule if you want to move your process ahead you have to interview candidates that are not legitimate candidates for HC.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, Leftwich and Hamilton get there name out there and they want to get back in the game, it's actually better than interviewing Thomas Brown, who gets no benefit from you interviewing him, he just checks the box.

Either make it so a zoom meeting, lasting 2 hours minimum can count or adjust the rule in some way that teams don't have to satisfy the rule by taking completely unqualified candidates for the sole purpose of satisfying the rule.

 

[Wingy]

I find it funny that people are clamoring for Johnson.
It'll be his 1st crack at the ENTIRE TREE...to expect him to be an OC Savant,on TOP of the massive workload, will be amusing.
I just don't see it.

Just seems like group think across the country, teams, fans, NFL world. Dude being listed as “S” tier by some here, 2 tiers above anyone but Vrabel (is he really that great himself?). Never been a head coach anywhere, but everyone’s certain he’s an elite candidate.

Maybe he’ll be great, I don’t know. I just find it funny how confident people talk about something that’s even harder to judge than player performance. There’s a hot name or two just about every year so it’s par for the course.

I do know this. Brad Holmes has basically been the anti-Bill, anti-Wolf when it comes to building/drafting great talent. We’ll see how Ben does w/o a stable full of studs.

 

[Sciz]

Where’s Breer’s outrage at the 49ers announcing their new OC before complying with the Rooney Rule?

 

[PatsfanTN]

Rooney rule, while good intentions, is a sham in itself. Get rid of it

 

[mgteich]

I am not talking about "SIX teams", I am talking about the New England Patriots. Every member of this forum knows the Patriots' choice is (and always was) down to 2 people and sorry not sorry but any black candidates interviewed by the Patriots would be a sham interview. As mike_usagisan perfectly stated: "The outrage over the sham interviews is a sham as well."

What part of that is so hard for you to understand? Did I use too many big words?

So, to avoid sham interviews, the patriots should be interviewing no one but Vrabel and Johnson, and hire their choice. They should violat league rules and accept the penalties.

NOT!

 

[XLIX]

So, to avoid sham interviews, the patriots should be interviewing no one but Vrabel and Johnson, and hire their choice. They should violat league rules and accept the penalties.

NOT!

That is not what I said and anyone who interpreted my comments that way needs to go back to 1st grade reading comprehension.

NE should absolutely conform to the Rooney Rule, but that doesn't change that fact that the black candidates they interviewed were sham interviews. Any outrage at NE for conforming to the Rooney Rule by conducting 2 sham interviews is just faux outrage.

Do try and keep up better in the future.

 

[Wingy]

The solution to racial discrimination is not racial discrimination.This should have been obvious from the start. The Rooney Rule, aside form its immorality, is ineffective. Any increase in black coaches/front office is negligible, and the failure rate of its "beneficiaries" is astronomical.There is for example not a single black offensive coordinator in the league. It will be painful when we eventually get around to an honest analysis of pervasive black failure, and thus with the real nature of an actual solution to the problem, but it is a task which must inevitably be accomplished. Even in chat spaces devoted to political discussion, where I spend most of my time, there is a dearth of actual, direct discussion of the matter.

Pervasive black failure? Yikes.

Maybe people tend to hang with and hire those more similar to themselves? That’s not to say they are some inherent evil for doing a pretty natural human thing, but still doesn’t erase the fact that the behavior exists, and we are an intelligent enough species to recognize it. I agree the Rooney rule and its execution doesn’t work, but the idea of turning off default tunnel vision and broadening potential hiring pools is still a desirable goal.