King pulls the race card
I like Peter King, but what's up with this point today from his column?
It has been a very bad month for minority hires. Herman Edwards changed addresses, from Long Island to Kansas City. Other than that, the six head-coaching hires have all been white. The seventh, Houston's hiring of Denver offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, is a few hours away. Buffalo is leaning toward Dick Jauron. And Oakland ... well, you never know what Oakland's going to do. Unless the Raiders hire a minority, there will be 10 head-coaching changes this year and no increase in the number of minority coaches. (There are six.) I wonder if owners noticed the good jobs done this year by the Giants' Tim Lewis, who is black, and the Bears' Ron Rivera, who's Hispanic.
In a league in which approximately two-thirds of the players are minorities, the lack of progress on the minority coaching front is a black eye, particularly when three black men -- Lovie Smith, Tony Dungy and Marvin Lewis -- did some of the best coaching in the NFL this year. I thought the NFL was becoming a progressive league in the hiring arena. But with no additional minority hires as head coaches -- and, just as important, no increase so far in key front-office positions -- the league has taken a giant step backward this month.
gee, i'm sure those other guys hired instead probably did nothing [sarcasm]! come on now! so many factors go into hiring guys including how muzzled the head coach keeps a guy, how high profile the guy is, personal relationships, past connections to certain coaches, etc. I sincerely doubt that owners are overlooking people because of race. Peter, please take a second look at what you're saying, its really bringing down the quality of your otherwise stellar work.
posted by ep @ 12:24 PM
2 Comments:
I forget exactly where, but I read another article on this topic that made more sense. The argument in that article was that all of the new head coaching hires were OK to good, non-spectacular assistant coaches... who all were white this year. If the NFL were really trying to be progressive, why didn't at least one of the minority, non-spectacular assistant coaches get hired for head coach as well?
I certainly agree the point you're making, there are many other factors that go into making a decision to hire, and I do agree that a sample size of 6 in one year is not something to make the biggest deal about. But I think there is a point to be made, and a fact (and hopefully not a trend) to be highlighted.
thanks dan. wherever you got that article - it contains a far better argument. in any case, i give king the benefit of the doubt because the style of his column is point by point. he was not trying to go into a whole discussion on the issue, just noting it.
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