Thursday, January 05, 2006
Big Chief Edwards & the NFL's Race Thing
It seems that the Kansas City Chiefs were determined to recruit New York Jets head coach Herman Edwards from the get-go -- to the point of not bothering to seriously interview anyone else, including their current assistant head coach Al Saunders.
For those paying attention, this is almost exactly the same thing that happened with the Detroit Lions two years back with Steve Mariucci, then late of the San Francisco 49ers. Except the Lions got in trouble -- and fined by the NFL -- because the organization violated league policy in not at least interviewing a minority coach.
So, should white coaches -- again, including Saunders -- have a legitimate beef with the NFL's hiring policy, given what the Chiefs have done?
Hmmm...
Ironically, fines aside, the Lions -- and general manager Matt Millen -- may have actually done themselves a disservice by NOT interviewing minority candidates: At least one coach Millen could have looked at -- the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith -- managed to get his team in the playoffs this year, while the Lions fired Mariucci in the middle of the season.
Tags: sports, Herman Edwards, race
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For those paying attention, this is almost exactly the same thing that happened with the Detroit Lions two years back with Steve Mariucci, then late of the San Francisco 49ers. Except the Lions got in trouble -- and fined by the NFL -- because the organization violated league policy in not at least interviewing a minority coach.
So, should white coaches -- again, including Saunders -- have a legitimate beef with the NFL's hiring policy, given what the Chiefs have done?
Hmmm...
Ironically, fines aside, the Lions -- and general manager Matt Millen -- may have actually done themselves a disservice by NOT interviewing minority candidates: At least one coach Millen could have looked at -- the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith -- managed to get his team in the playoffs this year, while the Lions fired Mariucci in the middle of the season.
Tags: sports, Herman Edwards, race
