The NFL is considering implementing a radical new program
for coercing clubs to hire minority head coaches and general managers,
according to a recent report by NFL.com’s Jim Trotter.
The
plan, if approved, would incentivize teams to hire minority head coaches and
general managers by rewarding
them with improved draft positions for so doing. Trotter laid out some
of the particulars, including:
*If a team hires a minority head coach, its third-round pick
in the following year’s NFL Draft would be moved up six spots.
*If a team hires a minority “primary football executive,”
meaning a general manager, that same third-round pick would be moved up 10
spots.
*If a team hired a minority head coach and general
manager to fill its latest openings, the third-round pick would be moved up 16
spots, possibly becoming a second-round pick.
*If a team’s minority coach or general manager is still on
the job entering his (or her) third season, that team’s fourth-round pick in that
year would be moved up five spots.
This
new system would augment or replace the league’s current “Rooney Rule,” which
mandates that teams interview at least one minority candidate for each and
every coach and general manager opening. Many observers believe the Rooney Rule
as currently constituted is inadequate, since only four NFL teams currently
have minority head coaches
That’s
as may be, but the new proposal is unworkable on its face. I am certainly not
against more minorities filling head coaching and GM positions, but this plan
does not…go far enough. Moreover, I’d like to see specific, real world examples
of how this would play out. Allow me to present some scenarios under my
proposal, a modified version of the NFL’s.
Let’s take it for granted that we
can’t trust teams in a highly competitive league where success brings
staggering sums of money to hire people they believe are best suited to getting
the job done. That would be illogical. I think we can all agree it would be
easier and fairer to just make certain that coaches and GMS are represented in
the same proportion they are found in the general population, though, frankly,
I don’t know if that should be the global, national, regional, or local
population.
Anyway, let’s say Team X interviews
a straight white Christian male (boo!), a Two-Spirited Native American lesbian,
a gay mulatto transvestite and a male Muslim from North Africa. Let’s say the
team hires the gay mulatto transvestite. It would have its third-round pick
moved up 6 spots in the next year’s draft but would have its pick moved down
1 spot each for not hiring the Two-Spirited Native American
lesbian or the male Muslim from North Africa. The net affect of the team’s
hiring decisions would be that its third-round pick would be moved up four
spots. Now, if the team hired everyone but the straight white Christian
male, its pick would be moved up 18 spots, potentially placing it into
the top half of the second-round. Conversely, if the team hired the
straight white Christian male, it would forfeit its third-round pick altogether
and be subject to a fine of 50% of its highest annual pre-COVID-19 pandemic
revenue…and the disdain and mockery of everyone in the mainstream media.
Similar rewards and punishments
could be established for every race, ethnicity, religion and sexual
identity/proclivity/perversion currently known. It is the new American Way.
Are you ready for some football?!
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