The Rooney Rule

The Rooney Rule

  • Submitted By: cs08
  • Date Submitted: 03/22/2009 4:00 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 736
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 395

There are 119 football teams that make up the NCAA football bowl division league, and of all those teams, there are just 4 black head coaches. That is exactly half of how many black coaches there were in the league 10 years ago, and the least amount in the last 15 years. There are questions as to why this is, but not many answers. The Rooney rule, which was established in the NFL in 2003, requires that when hiring for a head coaching position, teams must interview minority candidates for the job. If teams refuse to obey the Rooney rule, they receive team fines. Some say that College football should adopt this rule, but me, I disagree with this rule.
Many people think that there should be more black coaches, and that it’s racist that African American’s are being over looked as coaches. Roy Johnson, the author of the blog, Ballers, Gamers, and Scoundrels, says “This is what’s wrong with college football,” regarding the coaching pick of Mike Hamilton, after picking Tennessee’s new head football coach, because of his “good bloodline,” instead of a much more qualified individual. People are even starting to associate football to the whole country in comparing that in the U.S.A, just like in football, there are black and white people, but that it’s always ran by a white man. Richard Lapchick, co-author of the report “Only four Black College coaches in NCAA, Lowest in 15 Years,” said to the associated press, “While the percentages [of minority coaches] are slightly better, the general picture is still one of white men running college sport, Overall, the numbers simply do not reflect the diversity of our student-athletes. Moreover, they do not reflect the diversity of our nation where we have elected an African-American as President for the first time.”
I totally agree, that African-American’s should not be over looked for a job because of their race, and nor should a Caucasian, but I feel that implementing a rule like the “Rooney” rule is not necessary. What is...

Similar Essays