Affirmative Action In Major League Sports

Great Debates
21

I’m only sorry that the debate has revolved around Steve Mariucci personally, and not around the larger issue.

In and of itself, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Lions hiring Steve Mariucci. He’s a capable coach with a solid record. Similarly, there’s nothing wrong with Jerry Jones hiring Bill Parcells to coach the Cowboys- Parcells has been to three Super Bowls. His record speaks for itself.

Now, is there any doubt that Jones wanted to hire Parcells all along? Not really. But Jones didn’t have to pay a fine, because he went through the motions of interviewing a token minority candidate and pretended (wink, wink) that somebody besides Parcells was a real contender. So, if you look SOLELY at these two cases, you’d have to conclude that Millen (who’s being fined) is no worse than Jones (who’s not), and that Millen’s sole “crime” was refusing to waste a black assistant coach’s time.

I have no problem at all with what the Cowboys or 49ers did. Nor do I have a problem with Alabama hiring Mike Shula. My problem is rarely with any specific hire. Rather, my problem is with the way things are typically done in sports. Among the things that bother me:

  1. CONSTANT REHIRING OF RETREADS

How many mediocre white coaches have gotten second and even third chances to be head coaches in the time Sherm Lewis and Ted Cottrell have waited to get a FIRST chance? Obviously, those men are outraged, but you know who SHOULD be outraged? The fans, regardless of color! Does ANY fan in San Francisco really think Dennis Erickson (who did a lousy job with the Seahawks) was the best coach available? Did anyone at the University of Arizona think John Mackovic (who’s been a mediocre, “maybe we’ll go 6-5 and make it to the Sun Bowl” coach everywhere he’s gone) was an inspired hire?

Never mind the civil rights angle- why aren’t white FANS infuriated when the same old (white) bozos get hired and re-hired again and again?

  1. CRONYISM & GOOD-OLD-BOY NETWORKING

There aren’t many old-fashioned bigots out there any more. There really aren’t. Most pro sport G.M.'s and college Athletic Directors are decent people who genuinely believe in equality… in theory, at least. But when coaching jobs open up, far too often, they go to old roommates/teammates/drinking buddies of the executives doing the hiring. And when most of the executives are white, it stands to reason most of the guys they palled around with were white, too.

Moreover, in many settings (especially in colleges), coaching is only a PART of a football coach’s job. Schmoozing with rich alumni is a HUGE part of the football coach’s job at most major colleges. A brilliant X’s and O’s guy who can’t charm the alumni is on thin ice from Day 1. Ask poor Fred Akers, who did a great job here at Texas, but who wasn’t folksy enough to suit the rich West Texas oilmen who make up the wealthiest alumni here.

Now, again, VERY few of these Texas alumni are virulent racists. Most are decent guys. But they want MORE from a football coach than a strong team on the field- they want a guy who talks Southern, who’ll swap stories with them, who’ll play golf with them at their country clubs, who’ll hunt and fish with them, and swap tall tales.

Mack Brown (an excellent coach) can do that- but Tyrone Willingham (also an excellent coach) definitely COULDN’T.

Get the idea? The problem isn’t lunkheaded Klansmen who think black men aren’t smart enough to be coaches. Rather, the problem is, the people in a position to hire usually want a guy they like, a guy they relate to, a guy who just FEELS like “my kinda people.”

And that definitely works to the disadvantage of black candidates.

22

So, astorian, it’s an institutional racism?

23

Ford’s overall hiring record during his ownership of the Lion’s doesn’t seem to indicate a pattern of racism. While this is, of course, not proof that the Lions didn’t use race as a factor in this case, it does not make it look likely. Do you have any evidence whatsoever that shows that it is likely that racism was involved? It seems kind of silly to go arround suspecting people of racism for no apparent reason. And no, Dennis Green doesn’t count as evidence. As someone else noted, while he started well in Minn., by the end his coaching regime was an unmitigated disaster. He completely lost control of the team, and seemed unable to institute any semblance of discipline. Not only are these problems on their own, but they are particularly bad for a team like the Lions who already had horrible problems with team discipline and coach control. Marriuci’s strong points match up with the Lion’s weaknesses, Greens do not.

24

Dennis Green’s disasterous 2001 campaign did have some mitigating factors, five of them to be exact. Five wins for the Vikings. If you haven’t noticed that’s exactly how many games Mornhinweg won in his 2 year career as head coach of the Lions. Moreover, in the four seasons prior to 2001 the Vikings had made the playoffs and actually won a postseason game, a feat that the Lions under the Fords have only accomplished once in four decades. There is no comparison between Denny Green and not just Morningweg but any coach the Lions have had since 1961. Denny beats them all hands down. To say that he “started out well” is to damn with faint praise. The guy never had a losing season before 2001. The best the Fords had to offer was Wayne Fontes who lost as many games as he won. But still the Fords were still willing to stick with Morningweg when Green was available. That makes me suspicious. Now I don’t believe it all can be explained by racism, there were other possible reasons to stay the course, the most obvious being able to continue to put off admitting what a huge mistake hiring the guy was in the first place. The Fords have their pride though Chthulu knows what they’ve done to deserve it.

Their hiring practices seem no exception to this general lack of merit. Sure they hire black assistants, as must all teams to get by in the NFL whether they want to or not. They have shown that they can form bonds with some former players that are African American, Charlie Sanders being the prime example. But they show no willingness to trust minorities unsupervised. At the top it is monochrome: head coach, general manager, team president; these top jobs always go to white guys. There are plenty of black faces stepping and fetching for the white bosses but that does nothing to convince me the Fords are prepared to entrust the franchise to hands that are other than white.

Airman Doors, USAF,

If you expect me to take the time to address your comments you need to respond to the words I’ve actually written. This isn’t a remedial reading class, it is GD. If you can’t comprehend simple declarative sentences then you don’t belong here. Perhaps you could try the Free Republic. I bet no one over there would bat an eye when you make a dubious claims without any supporting evidence whatsoever. As I have already had to point out to (O_o), we don’t know if prejudice was a factor in the nonhiring of Denny Green. Unless you are the mindreader, of course.

25

It seems people are neglecting the fact that Detroit tried to interview minority candidates (according to them), but none accepted because they knew the job was Mariucci’s.

The real question is what is being done to enable minority candidates to be competitive in hiring? Being an NFL head coach is a very rare job, there are only 32 in the world. The pool of people qualified to even interview is tiny. You can’t just say “we need more black coaches” and expect it to magically be so. The real travesty is that of 108 (112?) D1 college coaches, 4 are black. Also, how many NFL coordinators are black? This is where head coaches come from. They need to focus on these areas to ensure that minority candidates are even available for head coaching positions.

The push for black coaches is relatively new, within the last 10 years or so. Being an NFL head coach is the capstone of an entire career so it 's going to take a while for minorities to rise to that position. This whole process of fining teams is just a band-aid so the NFL can say “Look. We’re trying”. Ultimately, it will come down to the bottom line of wins and losses. Not so long ago, you didn’t see black QB’s either. Now, you’d be stupid to pass up a Vick or a McNabb or a Culpepper. The same will happen with coaches.

26

I fail to see what’s ‘unspoken’ about this policy. Yes, it’s Affirmative Action. So what? The numbers of black coaches and front-office workers has always been low - in all sports, I think - because many did not think they were capable of handling the job. This is an attempt to fight that. To nitpick one point more specifically:

You say that major league sports were “the model of meritocracy.” That’s bullcrap. Major League Baseball didn’t have a black player until 1947 because of flagrant racism, pure and simple. If it was a meritocracy, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and others would’ve had a shot.
It was believed by football ‘experts’ for years that black men did not have the intelligence required to play quarterback in the NFL. Racism outweighed meritocracy for years. Robert Johnson (of BET) is the only black owner in the NBA - and I think about 3/4 of the players are black in that sport - and his team doesn’t actually exist yet. Are there any other black owners in any sport? I can’t think of any.

Well, there’s absolutely no reason to think so, so I’m gonna say ‘no.’ You seem rather misinformed here. Racial makeup by percentage doesn’t enter into this, and it has nothing to do with players, it’s about management jobs. Also, it’s just about interviewing candidates, not hiring them.

Ever heard of Grant Fuhr? Hall-of-Fame goalie? Or Jarome Iginla, the NHL scoring leader in '01-'02? Both of them are black. There aren’t a lot of black hockey players, but the number is on the rise. Not that it’s actually relevant to the question.

I think astorian is correct that the problem these days is largely cronyism. Forcing teams to interview more candidates circumvents that somewhat. Frankly, I think this is rather a good way to combat it. It IS ridiculous that some of these losers keep getting jobs handed to them, and it’s ridiculous that the American sports landscape is so populated by black athletes, and so few of them are in office positions.

27

Marley23 says:

Well, thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it.

The point I’m trying to make is this: if it’s so important to have diversity in “management jobs,” then why isn’t it just as important to have the same level of diversity with the players. Can you make an argument that it is somehow qualitatively different?

You also say:

Typical. Form over substance.

28

Sorry if you’re insulted, but you were wrong! I’m not taking the blame for that. :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, perhaps so, but then again, if it required the hiring of minority candidates, you’d have complained about that, too.

29

Well done. It’s not every day that I see a simple yes/no question avioded so adeptly. Now, if you would just kindly answer the question, we can get this all behind us.

30

I’m pretty sure this is a joke, since there have always been white stars in the NBA. George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Bob Cousey, Bill Bradley, Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, to the present. There aren’t as many white players as there once were in the NBA, maybe. But if anything, I’d think you’d cite this as an example of the “meritocracy” you mention, since players from all over the world are coming into the NBA these days and the overall talent of the league has never been higher.

31

jk1245 is dead on. Put some energy into developing more leadership and coaching skills among black athletes. Get more of them in the pipeline

I wasn’t aware of that NFL rule until I heard about the fine. I found it hard to believe the rule existed. I’m envisioning scenarios where the same good handful black coach candidates are flying all over to be interviewed for every possible pro coaching opening, whether or not they want a new job and whether or not the recruiting organization thinks they’d be a good fit.

I am pretty supportive of proactive measures to get more minorities in key jobs and careers where they are underrepresented. But this “interview requirement” seems like a poor solution for pro football.

32

I don’t approve of the current rule that teams must interview black candidates for head coaching positions. But that’s not the only for of affirmative action possible. There are real, practical things teams in all sports could be doing to increase the numbers of black coaches- things that even Airman Doors couldn’t find fault with.

Remember, originally “affirmative actions” was just a clunky, complicated way of saying something simple: “DO something!” Take some positive steps to improve the situation. And that DOESN’T have to mean implementing quotas or hiring unqualified minorities. What COULD (should) it mean? I’ll give you some examples.

Dave Johnson was a successful manager in major league baseball, right? Well, he’s often said that, when he was still a second baseman with the Baltimore Orioles, he told manager Earl Weaver that he wanted to be a manager eventually. So, Earl Weaver took Johnson under his wing, and gave him some coaching/scouting responsibilities (minor at first, more important later). Hence, Johnson had a bit of a leg up on other players who had managerial aspirations.

Here in Texas, Bill Bates was a popular player on the Cowboys for many years. And LONG before he retired, the Cowboys were clearly grooming him for an eventual coaching career. They let him lead special teams practices, for example, and had him watching game film with the coaching staff. So sure enough, when he retired as a player, he stepped right into a special teams coaching position.

Now, NOBODY refers to what Weaver did for Johnson as “affirmative action,” and nobody would say that Bill Bates was the beneficiary of an “affirmative action” program. And yet, they DID benefit from teams that liked them and were eager to help them move up the ladder.

I don’t like quotas or watering down of legitimate standards. But I DO wonder: why teams couldn’t do for worthy black players EXACTLY what they’ve long been doing for worthy white guys like Johnson and Bates?

If Jerry Jones felt there just weren’t enough quality black assistant coaches out there, fine- but he shouldn’t let the matter drop there. Right NOW would be a good time for him to talk to some veteran black players about their futures. Why not approach a guy like Darren Woodson and say, “Darren, you’ve been a great player for us for many years, you’re a smart man, you’ve been a leader on this team, a solid citizen, a credit to this team. Have you thought about what you want to do when you retire? Do you see yourself as a coach, or in the front office?”

I don’t know if Darren Woodson wants to be a coach, but if he said he WAS interested in coaching, NOW would be a great time to start giving Darren some coaching responsibilities. NOW would be a good time to have him start leading defensive drills, to have him watching tape and developing game-day strategies with the defensive coordinator.

If EVERY team in EVERY major sport would just make some small effort of this kind to seek out capable black players on their own squads and give them some grooming, then in a few years, there’d be an abundance of young black assistant coaches with all the “necessities.” Then we’d start to see a lot of them getting to top jobs.

THAT’S the kind of “affirmative action” that would yield real results. And it’s the kind of “affirmative action” I think even the most conservative white fan could understand and respect.

33

astorian writes:

You’re right. This conservative white fan understands, respects, and wants that kind of mentoring/affirmative action program.

34

I probably haven’t been clear on the subject, but I agree with astorian that that’s a way to get some real results instead of just having teams try and meet quotas and requirements.