January 22, 2007, - 12:04 pm

Two Black Coaches Reach the Superbowl

By Debbie Schlussel
We’re constantly hearing whines from the Jesse Jackson’s of the world, moans from the Pam Olivers of the world (Pam Oliver is a reporter for FOX NFL Sunday), and other assorted cries from America’s race merchants that there are not enough Black head coaches in the NFL.
Thus, the “Rooney Rule,” which requires NFL Teams to interview at least one Black candidate before they hire for any head coaching vacancy. The Detroit Lions got fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for not doing so, a few years ago. So, to avoid the fines, teams have meaningless interviews with those they don’t have the intention of hiring–not because of race, but because they have their chosen candidate.

loviesmithbearscoach.jpgtonydungycoltscoach.jpg

Chicago Bears Coach Lovie Smith, Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy

Now, though, both head coaches of teams in this year’s Superbowl are Black–Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears. That assures that a Black coach will win the Superbowl. Doesn’t this mean that Blacks have achieved “parity” in the League? Does it mean that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the other professional race shakedown artists in America will finally shut up about their claim that the NFL is racist against Blacks, keeping them out of top “front office” jobs?
No, it doesn’t mean that at all. Reaching parity is not something race merchants can recognize or handle. Like the Palestinians and their phony “refugee” issue, they don’t ever want this to be solved. It would take away an issue that they wish to self-perpetuate, that they don’t want taken off the table . . . ever.
So don’t watch for them to recognize this monumental achievement by two Black head coaches in the NFL, who got their on merit–their teams won with talent, not a statistically engineered result.
And don’t ever expect the race merchants to get involved in that other statistic–the lack of Whites in the National Football League. over 75% of all players in the League are Black. And that’s the way it should be–because talent and ability on the field, alone, is the only thing that matters. But Whites are the decided minority. Shouldn’t they merit quotas now?
According to the Jackson/Sharpton/Oliver model, yes.
If it weren’t based solely on talent and merit, the NFL wouldn’t be Black in such vast numbers. That’s what the workplace is all about on the gridiron–talents and merit, not government-mandated equality of results.
Time to move that dynamic to the non-gridiron workplace. And time for Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and–yes–even Pam Oliver to shut up when it comes to head-coaching positions in the NFL.




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12 Responses

That is what is so great about sports. The truth is there on the field of play for all to see. Both coaches have earned their success; they are exemplary individuals. Oh how nice it would be if the rules in politics allowed for referees to blow the whistle each time a candidate told a lie or some other infraction of the rules and then penalized them 5 yards or maybe half the distance to the goal line. (What rules?)

Happiness Pursuer on January 22, 2007 at 12:32 pm

i think i saw Shannon Sharpe riffing on this, but since i’ve yet to see a coach score a single point in football, it’s all moot.
What really should be INVESTIGATED though is whether or not these refs are on the take!!!
LAST YEAR they blatantly robbed Troy Polamalu of an interception…this year there were TWO totally bogus calls against the Patriots—offensive pass interference when a WR hits the defensive dude coming off the line [an WITHIN the now sissyfied 5-yard rule]—WTF???
But most disturbing was that roughing the passer call in the waning minutes…NOTICE they didn’t replay that as often as they normally would have. Payton, and yes, i’m intentionally using the girlie version of his name, is now under the Air Jordan Rule—LOOK at him wrong and you’re penalized.
WATCH what happens if Urhlacher and that vaunted Chicago defense hits Manning twice—yellow flags are gonna be flying more than the snow in Chicago two weeks from now if they put some D on the NFL’s wunderkid!!!

EminemsRevenge on January 22, 2007 at 1:10 pm

Spot on, Debbie. Now, of course those race pimps mentioned will go after the front office, bitching about the number of blacks in management. Their goal is simple. The nation must rid itself entirely of all white business owners, managers, CEO’s, and corporate board members. They will not be happy until all whites are in servitude to blacks.

Skippy on January 22, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Tony Dungee would never have been hired without pressure from press and the head office. He had been considered the best available candidate for years, in fact a defensive genius who everyone credited with building the Tampa Bay killer defensive schemes. Without the NFL rule, nobody but white guys would ever have been considered by the white owners. The real live test is not hiring, but firing a Black coach, and then having another team re-hire the guy. That has already happened too. While Romeo Cornell didn’t have the “can’t miss” label on him, he was passed over for years. There are now two Black GMs, there only because of the pressure from the NFL head office, and GM is where the power really is in football, not the head coach.
Now why do you think there are only nine Black head coaches in Division I NCAA schools? No qualified candidates? Bullshit. I’m not a bean counter but racial discrimination does exist.
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE MULTIPLE HEAD COACH HIRINGS OF BOTH ART SHELL AND DENNIS GREEN, THROUGHOUT THEIR CAREERS? MOST OF IT WAS BEFORE THE ROONEY RULE (WHICH IS FAIRLY NEW). FRANKLY, MOST NFL OWNERS WOULD LOVE TO WIN A SUPERBOWL. IF THEY BELIEVE A COACH WILL TAKE THEM THERE, THEY WON’T CARE IF HE’S BLACK, WHITE, OR PURPLE.
DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL

Duke on January 22, 2007 at 1:42 pm

[THEY WON’T CARE IF HE’S BLACK, WHITE, OR PURPLE.]
But not too long ago they did care. It’s because of people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton that there are African-Americans in management positions of sports teams.
I hope Sharpton runs for Prez. He’ll certainly shake up the race a bit!

Norman Blitzer on January 22, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Part of the psychological damage a neverending racial parity issue cultivates is a simultaneous inferiority *and* superiority complex. Racial “leaders” cultivate it and then manipulate it.

Jeremiah on January 22, 2007 at 3:11 pm

How come they never examine why people of mixed race are considered black or African-American by the media? Isnt that racist? One drop of black blood makes you black?
Interesting mind set.

dll2000 on January 22, 2007 at 4:40 pm

The Detroit Lions-easily the most depressing thing about living in Detroit,even to a non-football fan-did interview black candidates for the job;they didn’t sign off on the interviews and the shmucks…whoops Lions paid like a 250K(as in gelt)fine.

jaywilton on January 22, 2007 at 6:50 pm

Too bad there is no “Rooney Rule” in public education. I see the that every candidate for the President of Detroit Public Schools is black. Are there no qualified candidates of other races that can be considered for the position? I guess diversity only works one way.

caspermi on January 22, 2007 at 8:31 pm

Two black coaches each with a white quarterback. Wait till the NAACP and the press realize that – can’t let that discrimination continue.

czekmark` on January 26, 2007 at 6:13 pm

I wish people had enough courage to put an end to the “White Man’s Guilt” and political correctness that allows opportunistic blacks and organizations to strong-arm and whine their race-based, one-sided agendas into the spotlight. There is no doubt that blacks, as a whole, were victims of inequality of mass proportions in the past. Today, however, is a completely different story. They have a free pass on anything involving race, including former black professors calling for the “extermination” of white people on C-SPAN, to which no one even flinched when it occurred, and they have the luxury of crying racism in any situation where it benefits them. Now, the public is supposed to believe that Whitey is keeping blacks out of head coaching positions? The sad thing is, that most people are buying into this crock; whites are supposed to feel guilt and blacks are supposed to demand change.
Head coaches are typically former players, turned assistant coaches, turned head coaches, which requires a fair amount of time to pass for this cycle to take place. Considering only a handful of black players were playing prior to 1949, which was the first year that blacks were drafted from college (5 black players that year), it took awhile for blacks to become a major part of the league. By the 70’s and early 80’s, black players were making up a large part of the team rosters. Fast-forward a few decades and those who were players and who even cared to pursue coaching, are now viable candidates for assistant and head coaching positions. Remember, there are approximately 1,696 positions for players and only 32 head coaching positions in the league, so there are very few head coaching positions available to begin with. There were 7 black head coaches this last season (Kansas City’s Herman Edwards, Cleveland’s Romeo Crennel, Indianapolis’ Tony Dungy, Arizona’s Dennis Green, Chicago’s Lovie Smith, Oakland’s Art Shell, and Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis), which means roughly 22% of the head coaching positions were held by blacks, most of which played from the late 60’s through the 80’s. Considering blacks are roughly 12% of the US population, with a more relevant statistic being that black males are only 5.5% of the US population (seeing how females don’t play in the NFL), blacks enjoy a very healthy representation in the league (players being 75% and head coaches being 22%). So, based on the aforementioned “Players-to-Coaches” cycle, there will be even more black head coaches in due time.
Coach Dungy and Coach Smith are both class acts with great resumes and have proved themselves as head coaches. Both have paid their dues and have earned their ways to the top, with Dungy doing so prior to the Rooney Rule. However, to require a team to interview candidates based on race, is ridiculous and perpetuates racial inequality. When one candidate gets an advantage based on race, there is an inequality. Are blacks really the victims here? I’m having trouble seeing it. The moral of the story; no one should include nor exclude, give advantages, or make exceptions based on race, and for those who believe it’s acceptable, they are either fooled into feeling unwarranted guilt or they are benefiting from the inequality and don’t care about what’s right or wrong.

whiteracismvictim on February 6, 2007 at 7:03 am

It’s a few days before my second check up and I weigh 239 pounds so I only lost 10 pounds this month. ,

mvzxncb. on June 3, 2011 at 8:55 pm

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