The Rooney Rule: What’s The Point?

There was one caveat to the latest report with Pete Carroll that struck me as kind of ridiculous.

↵From Adam Schefter:

↵↵Carroll was fully expected to be introduced by the Seahawks as early as Monday, assuming they comply with the Rooney Rule this weekend.

↵The hangup could be locating a candidate to interview that would put the Seahawks in compliance with the rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head-coaching and senior-football-operations hires.

↵↵

↵But in a practical sense—it’s just demeaning. Again we go to Schefter:

↵↵Carroll was fully expected to be introduced by the Seahawks as early as Monday, after the team interviewed Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier on Saturday morning.

↵According to league sources, Frazier met with the Seahawks in Minneapolis, satisfying the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head-coaching and senior football-operations hires.

↵Seattle also contacted the agent for Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, but as of Saturday morning, nothing had been set up. An interview with Rivera also would satisfy the Rooney Rule.

↵↵Because he’s black, Frazier gets to sit through an interview for a job that’s already been filled. And hey, to double up the diversity, Seattle may go ahead and interview Ron Rivera too. Did you know he’s half-Puerto Rican? Progress!

↵…The logic behind the rule is understandable, but in practice, it’s been a failure. All too often, we have candidates like Frazier—who will likely land the job in Buffalo, by the way—who get stuck interviewing for jobs that have already been filled, just so that a team can check off a box on some documents for the league. It’s waste of everyone’s time, and for the candidates like Frazier or Rivera, it’s got to be a little insulting.