Tuesday’s daily. I didn’t know the rules changed in October 2021, but apparently now the League is requiring any teams with open coordinator positions (OC and/or DC) must have at least two minorities interviewed for the open OC or DC position.
Teams also must interview a minimum of two minority HC candidates. I’m not saying Flores is strictly a Rooney Rule guy, but I think Hines Ward definitely was. This might also be why DeMeco withdrew from the Vikings HC opening, perhaps he felt he wasn’t really a serious candidate but just a necessary cog in the wheel.
This also means Nick can very well “interview” Pep Hamilton for OC, but new rules mean there will have to be another minority interviewed for OC. This is frustrating because Pep could easily be the guy, and he’s a minority, yet the rules make him sit by while another minority candidate “competes” with him and all the while it’s a sham. It’s a show. Why can’t the League just permit a team to promote an existing minority to a coordinator position? Perhaps that exception to the rule exists, but it’s not covered in this article explaining the new rules for 2022.
Could the Texans have simply relieved Tim Kelly of his duties even if just prior to Game 17 of the 2021 regular season, and promoted Pep to OC with the title and the pay bump, so that there wasn’t an open OC position currently? It’s something to ponder. Did Pep interview with the Bears as simply a needed minority candidate…you need TWO now, remember? Was that the reason for Carolina requesting him yet he declined maybe because he knew he was a token minority candidate? Did he truly believe he was a genuine candidate for the Bears job?
Late Monday in our comments section, this topic was briefly discussed via the topic of The Show who is half of the 610 AM radio program team known as Stoerner & The Show. While I really don’t think we need 60 comments today on this topic… we’re steadily averaging about 300+ comments per day, because let’s face it–There is plenty to gab about today, and naturally so–, I do have to take pause and say the rule is well intentioned but carries with it a whole other plate of unsavory food for candidates and fans alike.
Another example to conclude this topic: There are only THREE candidates, not finalists, but three TOTAL candidates…total…for the Saints HC job: Flores, Aaron Glenn, and Saints DC Dennis Allen: Two black guys and one white guy, which is very awkward when you think about it. It was rumored Leftwich was going to be interviewed but that didn’t happen, so then out of the blue Flores was requested to interview. Did Lefty say, “Hell no.” so the Saints settled on replacing Lefty with Flores? I just have a feeling a lot of these minority candidates know they’re not really in the mix but they’re sometimes up for the effort to support it, and other times they say “Not again. Not this time, not for this team.”
It’s actually a compelling storyline that I think is winked at and nodded at among everyone in the business. It won’t be openly discussed in an expose article, I think, but maybe someday it will somehow. Feel free to discuss, but please keep your engagements with one another above board in the personal interactions, please.