@jedicurt:
i’ll wave my white flag on that one! great post!

why do i believe that steve sarkisians interview did not count? because Al Davis, the man who trying to do as little as possible for the NFL, and the man who hired two minority head coaches long before the rooney rule felt as thought it wouldn’t count for the league, hence why when he decided lane kiffin was our guy, he just quickly brought in James Lofton for his who-knows-the-number interview because he has always been our quick rooney rule candidate.

and as for saying Armenia is a European country, well there is some debate there. Armenia falls geographically south of the main ridge of the Caucasus Mountain Range. So Geographically the country resides in Asia. However, they are a member of the Council of Europe and are trying to join the EU because they feel (and so does Europe) that they are Culturally European, much the same way that the EU believes that the island of Cyprus and Israel are both Culturally apart of Europe even though they are Geographically in Asia as well. Georgia and Azerbaijan also fall into this gray area of are they European or Asian.

So this does bring up a good point. What defines a minority? is it geographic location? ethnicity? or culture? And more importantly for this discussion what does the NFL define as a minority when it comes to the Rooney Rule? I would like an official answer from the NFL

I would state that by the first two, Armenians are a minority in this country… the country falls within Asian, and Armenians are an ethnicity separate from those around them dating back to the 1600′s BC and are currently estimated with fewer than 12 million left world wide. Culturally they are not.

If i were to take African-Americans (note* applying this to only those that are born in the us so this would be comparable to Steve Sarkisian as he was born in the US) Geographically, no. Culturally, no. Ethnicity, Yes.

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Marvin had the guys to clamp down on the defense but then they ended up getting run out of town and not only were free agents reluctant to sign with Cincinnati but the owners were too cheap to go after the ones who might.

The Bengals ownership got its penny pinching ways from its founder and his family has just perpetuated that crap, even after he’s gone. No real facilities, no real personnel department, draft choices made based on signability and not necessarily talent and an owner who would rather pocket his profit than put it back into the team (and one of the ones that Jerry Jones rails about when he talks about teams that won’t spend their shared revenue to upgrade their team).

Give all the crap that he’s had to put up with in Cincinnati, I can’t blame Lewis for pushing back because no one really wants to go to the Bengals and they’ve had several of their better players jump ship because they’re tired of the losing and that management won’t make the effort to upgrade their franchise. If Brown finally loosens the purse strings, maybe they can get players to sign with them instead of it being the place where free agents with no other options will take the crumbs that they offer.

1. The Rooney Rule ONLY requires that they interview; it doesn’t say that they have to hire. Are you afraid that the owners might be offended by the smell that emanates from minority coaches or that he might be tempted to lean over and run his fingers through his nappy hairdo? Just what offends you about them getting a sit down? Seriously, if an owner interviews 10 candidates and 1 is a minority, are you unhappy with the possibility that 1 white candidate didn’t get a chance to interview, even if there wasn’t another white candidate that wanted to interview but there were 10 minorities that did but were denied a seat at the massa’s table?

2. Since most of the minority coaches ARE black, it would stand to reason that most of the minority coaches that are interviewed by owners ARE — gasp — black but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t non-black minorities that have been interviewed. I’d name them but why not let you do some actual research to find out who but I bet that most of you won’t.

3. Except for teams in the playoffs, owners can’t deny coaches interviews for promotions and that applies to whites AND minorities. Once their playoff run is over, the owner has to relent.

4. Some of you are even naive enough to believe MAYBE the rule was needed before but the owners are so much more enlightened but Jerry Jones is solid proof that there are owners out there that would rather lose a EEOC lawsuit than ever give the GM or head coaching job to a minority and that’s even if they suspected that they were “passing” Latinos like Flores.

5. I remember a time when the owners made excuse after excuse not to interview Tony Dungy, even though his boss, Chuck Noll, pushed hard for him and then they’d hire a guy like Rich Kotite, not ONCE but TWICE and he’d end up being a loser, not ONCE but TWICE. Year after year, qualified minority coaches were denied even a chance to talk face to face with an owner and that’s ALL they ever wanted. The fact is that many of them already knew that they had to have a plan to hit the ground running to create a winner but they never even got a chance to show that while their white counterparts had no problem getting a seat at the massa’s table.

Oh and BULL and CRAP on the Flores thing. The NFL did make a big deal about WHEN IT HAPPENED and why you think that it has to be a deal when talking about two BLACK head coaches who had a chance to be the first BLACK Super Bowl winning head coach, is beyond me.

bojax34, caucasian is not a minority in California. According to the last census

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html

And running a good combine and being a good player has nothing to do with being a head coach. And if you recall respecting Singletary, especially when he first became head coach of the 49ers, wasn’t a problem, even when he dropped his pants in the locker room. Being a good player involves natural physical gifts and maintaining peak physical condition while understanding your position. Being a good head coach involves scheming, finding opponents weaknesses and maximizing your teams strengths, balancing the personalities and playing styles and inspiring confidence. Singletary was a great player, he was a mediocre head coach not because the players weren’t “tough” enough, but because he wasn’t good at any of those things except maybe inspiring confidence.

Personally I think the Rooney rule should be abolished. Maybe it was needed at one time when coaches were all white and there were barriers to be broken down, but now that there have been many successful minority coaches it just serves to demean those who are now seeking jobs. Any time a black coach gets called in for an interview the automatic assumption is it’s solely to satisfy the rooney rule. That’s just counterproductive. Let coaches like Mike Tomlin and Jim Caldwell stand on their own merits, I don’t think they need the help.

And maybe San Fran is tweaking their Bay area rival and trying to spook Al into making a hasty/another dumb move.
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That would result in Al Davis making another “hasty” move. Hiring Jim Harbaugh of Stanford.

well when the Raiders interviews Steve Sarkisian who is Armenian (a worldly recognized minority group) it did not satisfy the Rooney Rule.

And as I recall the league was asked whether or not Norm Chow being interviewed by the Cardnials would have satisfied the rule in 2007, but the league never answered because the Cardnials had already interviewed Jim Caldwell thus counting as their minority candidate, so we never got an answer

And i brought up Tom Flores as a name because the league damn near forgot that he was the first minority coach to win a superbowl (won 2 of them) when they were making all the buzz about the tony dungy – Lovie Smith first black to win a super bowl

Maybe Al opts for Hue as HC and fires Cable, who then goes to SF as OL coach. Singletary comes in as Oak’s LB coach and we’ve closed the circle.

It’s allowed. It’s happened before. When Marvin Lewis went to Washington from Baltimore it was a lateral move. Why wouldn’t it be allowed??

That said. Hue will not be Cincy’s new OC. That guy is dreaming.

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really? dreaming? How about a few years back when Marvin tried to give Hue the OC job and Mike Brown shot it down then let him walk…..now Marvin is reportedly back—under the circumstance that MB gives him what he wants (indoor practice field, more scouts, and coach/player personnel power) Soooo if Marvin does come back, OC Bratkowski is gone, and Marv can bring in who he wants…ie Hue Jackson

thanks though

I’m pretty sure the only way the Raiders can stop him from interviewing is by making him their head coach.

Anyone got a rule book handy?

Anyone who is under contract with a team be it a Coach, assistant or player must receive permission to speak with the another NFL team if the request is denied than to speak that subject constitutes tampering..!

It’s allowed. It’s happened before. When Marvin Lewis went to Washington from Baltimore it was a lateral move. Why wouldn’t it be allowed??

That said. Hue will not be Cincy’s new OC. That guy is dreaming.

There is no way he goes to Cincy. They’re in more dissaray than even the Raiders. Wake up!!

I’ve always wondered about that. I seem to remember the wording being “a minority candidate”, but I agree with you that it really means only “black”.

The whole thing is a big mess.

Interviewing a Tom Flores doesn’t count. Because apparently in the NFL there is only one minority, and the rest be damned

Ya, that’s what I was expecting to hear, lol.