NFL “will look into” Raiders’ head-coaching hire

Posted by Mike Florio on January 11, 2018, 5:55 PM EST
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The Fritz Pollard Alliance has changed its tune on the Raiders’ compliance with the Rooney Rule in connection with the hiring of coach Jon Gruden. The NFL may now do the same.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement issued late Thursday afternoon that the NFL “will look into” the situation.

On Wednesday, the Fritz Pollard Alliance raised concerns about the process in light of an admission from coach Mark Davis that he had a deal in place with Gruden before firing Jack Del Rio.

Earlier today, the NFL told PFT that there is no rule or policy that prevents a team from reaching an agreement in principle with a new coach before firing the current coach. However, the Rooney Rule requires that at least one minority candidate be interviewed for each coaching vacancy. If there never was a vacancy, how could there be compliance?

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29 responses to “NFL “will look into” Raiders’ head-coaching hire”

  4. Honestly, no one cares. You should be able to hire whoever you think gives your team the best chance to win.
    That being said, they hired the wrong guy. Davis can’t let go of the past, look at his hair, minivan, and flip-phone.

  5. Rooney Rule had it’s time in the sun and probably helped in making great progress. Now it is antiquated and makes a mockery of minorities that now know they are the token interview. Time to let it go. Teams are hiring what they believe to be the best people for the job. They may not always be right… But they aren’t basing hires on skin color.

  6. I support the Rooney Rule 100%. Any decent human being should demand that the most qualified person be hired for the job, regardless of race. Race shouldn’t be a factor when deciding who is the best person for the job. There has been, and continues to be a lot of discrimination against minorities in this country. So as a supporter of the Rooney Rule, and after taking into consideration every available candidate, I can honestly say that Jon Gruden is by far the best person to coach the Oakland Raiders, and be the face of their franchise during their move from Oakland to Las Vegas. Anybody who would want to force a business to hire an inferior candidate because they didn’t like the color of Jon Gruden’s skin, is going to cause a huge backlash against minorities (as if there isn’t one already), and is doing damage to race relations in America. Good intentions don’t matter, and ignorance is no excuse. Jon Gruden is plain and simple the best person for the job. Race relations are bad enough. Don’t make them worse. The NFL has been a role model for hiring minorities and placing them in highly important, extremely visible, and very high paying jobs. The NFL is doing their part in trying to unify our country. This Fritz Pollard Alliance appears to be doing their best to damage race relations, and destroy opportunities for minorities in the long run. Shame on them.

  7. disgustedfan says:
    January 11, 2018 at 5:57 pm
    Jeesh, give it a rest already.
    ——————————————

    Easy to say when you are in the majority group

  9. When a coach/GM gets fired. Owners/GM’s assess their situations to the best of their abilities. What went wrong, what went right? Where are the cornerstone players and what do we need? Was the coach too intense or too lax. They usually try to go in the opposite of what they had. They form a list that they envision to be the best guys to fix their weaknesses. Or sometimes they have a clear choice in who they think is the answer… Whether it is identifying/coaching up a QB etc. I can guarantee nowhere on that list is there a ethnicity checkbox. In fact I would bet age is a determining factor 25x more than race. IE: McVay who many thought was too young and inexperienced to command a locker room and sideline. Or too long in the tooth to take on the task. If Sean Payton was fired tomorrow and Benson decided he wanted Nick Saban, no interview of someone else in between is changing his mind. That is just a reality

  10. goldrush36 says:

    Rooney Rule had it’s time in the sun
    ==========================================

    It was a racist rule on day one.

  11. Regardless of if you like the rule or not, if there is a rule, it should be followed with consequences for not following it.
    Once again Goodell screwed this up. By first saying it’s not a problem, then after the problem gets more attention reversing course and saying they will investigate, it looks even worse and it makes the NFL look like bumbling clowns.

  12. Hiring a Head Coach has zero to do with hiring the most qualified candidate, nor should anyone be forced to interview anyone , especially based on your ethnic/race background…..the rule in 100% discrimination against non minorities…..a wrong to fix a wrong is well….just wrong.

  13. the Rooney Rule while is good intention is almost insulting to “interview” a person of color that you have no intention of hiring

  14. Another reason to get rid of Rooney Rule. I seriously doubt the Raiders knew of the loophole but are loving it now. Owners are going to hire who they want..this is America after all and what other industry has a Rooney rule, please tell me..

  15. I think at the moment there are 6 NFL head coaches that are black, which is 18% of all coaches. Blacks make up 19% of the country’s population…seems fairly balanced to me.

  16. No one looks into equality of the players on a team, so we make a big deal of coaches,

  17. They could have easily interviewed a minority before as you say the job was available. Corporate US regularly starts looking for a replacement before the person is actually replaced. Nothing strange here at all. Besides who really cares what Fritz Pollard people think.

  18. If you pay a zillion dollars for an NFL team, you should be able to hire whoever the hell you want to.

  20. The Raiders were progressive in their hiring practices long before the Rooney Rule came to be. I’m pretty sure I saw a black general manager on the podium When Gruden was introduced earlier this week.

  22. skins99 says:
    January 11, 2018 at 7:29 pm

    If you pay a zillion dollars for an NFL team, you should be able to hire whoever the hell you want to.
    _________________________

    What does that have to do with a birth lottery winners like Davis?

  23. you should be required to interview at least one candidate of each race…what kind of child like dream world do you live in?

  24. Doesn’t matter what the Alliance wants, the NFL is going to do what it wants. This “look at” is only to placate the African-American alliance. The only rule for the NFL is to get what they want. See relocation guidelines!

  26. Though not a fan of The Rule, I am enjoying reading from those “rules are rules” types who are now falling all over themselves explaining why their teams cleverness does not constitute cheating. Didn’t know about the loophole my foot! NE knew the rules about linemen reporting as eligible, which was an actual black letter rule and so moany wanted it to be called cheating. Now we have actual cheating, but that’s a loophole, right? So it’s now rightfully open season on the hypocrites.

    You were informed thusly back when you were busy crucifying a player and team for something the league admits about which they possess no evidence.

  29. The Rooney rule should only apply to teams SEARCHING for a coach, not teams that already have the coach they want. The NFL should remove the rule out period.

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