Posted on 08/17/2006 12:43:41 PM PDT by slowhand520
Report card gives NFL B+ for racial diversityAssociated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NFL's rule that at least one minority candidate be interviewed for each head coaching vacancy is the reason there are now a record seven black head coaches, six more than 16 years ago, the author of several sports diversity studies said Thursday.
The University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport credited the league's "Rooney Rule," adopted in late 2002, for the improvement.
"It's been really fast-tracked in a big-time way," study author Richard Lapchick said. "I've always felt the commissioner [Paul Tagliabue] had high on his priority list to improve the record for diversity, but until then he just didn't have the leverage."
The number of black general managers also increased from two in 2003 to a record five at the beginning of this season after the Houston Texans hired Rick Smith. Others at the position, not always called general manager but with equivalent duties, are the Baltimore Ravens' Ozzie Newsome, Arizona Cardinals vice president Rod Graves, Martin Mayhew with the Detroit Lions and James Harris, vice president of player personnel with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
There were never more than four minority head coaches throughout the 1990s.
Current black head coaches are: Romeo Crennel at Cleveland, Lovie Smith at Chicago, Marvin Lewis at Cincinnati, Herman Edwards at Kansas City, Tony Dungy at Indianapolis, Dennis Green at Arizona and Art Shell, recently rehired by Oakland.
Those changes helped the NFL earn an overall B+ from a B last year in Lapchick's report card on race.
"Having talented people from diverse backgrounds has been and will continue to be a priority for our league," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.
However, the report noted that the NFL -- and other pro men's sports, with the exception of basketball -- continued to lag in hiring women. The report card did not specifically issue a grade for gender because researchers were missing information from the NFL head office, Lapchick said, but it likely wouldn't have improved much over last year's D+.
The NFL did have a female president/CEO -- Amy Trask of the Raiders -- which is a rarity across pro sports, Lapchick said.
The NFL did not immediately comment on the report.
Lapchick reports on diversity in all the major professional sports and the NCAA.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press
And the NBA...
Does the NFL have a rule that at least one European-American be interviewed for each lineman or running back vacancy? Hmmmm? Why not?
Ahhhh Theres nothing like affirmative Action jobs.
Hey there guys we dont have enough blacks.. Well hire some.
But they arent as qualified. Hire em anyway , We dont need the hassle. Wont be long before Julio will be looking for a coaching job.
There arent enough white players in the NBA. That doesnt matter Honkeys dont count.
---'Report card gives NFL B+ for RACIAL diversity'---
The article says it still won't give an A to the NFL because (in part) there aren't enough women.
When did women become a race?
Well, I'm giving it a C- til they get more White cornerbacks.
So if more white guys were players would they get an A?
An A+ of course. Almost no offensive white faces left to be seen.
They should apply the same quota to the players....fair is fair.
Don't be too surprised to eventually see an NFL rule mandating that at least one woman be interviewed for each vacant head coaching position.
Are they talking about diversity, or just about black people making progress in the league? Would the nearly segregated NBA count as "diverse"? If I eat all the brightly colored jelly beans in the jar on my desk, and leave only the black ones, does that make my jelly bean jar more, or less, diverse?
Apparently white guys can't cover NFL wide receivers, or so the league's population of cornerbacks suggests.
I can't remember the last time I saw the pix of the starting defense for ANY NFL team that had as many as five white guys on it.
Some folks just specialize, y'know?
I would never want to win a job via affirmative action, as it would be a complete insult to me. If I can't win it on my proven accomplishments, I don't want the job at all.
~ Blue Jays ~
The early 80s Raiders had Howie Long, John Matuzak, Lyle Alzado, Matt Millen, Ted Hendricks, and Van McElroy.
....so yeah, it's been a while.
The latter, of course. Latinos, who now outnumber black in this country, aren't mentioned.
Ok, I'll ask....what about the albinos?
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