Joel Hammond thinks the NFL, not Matt Millen, is to blame for a swiss cheese minority hiring process.
By Joel Hammond
210 west Writer [send email]
I went to Dairy Mart yesterday with a craving for the juicy delight that is a Milky Way candy bar. You know, creamy caramel and rich milk chocolate dancing in your mouth as you salivate for more.
But after I made a beeline for the Milky Way, the cashier would not allow me to pay my $.62 and be on my way.
Why? Because I did not make an attempt to review any of the other equally delicious treats, including the likes of the Snickers, the Mars bar and Reese's pieces, just to name a few.
I was in disbelief, a feeling I'm certain Detroit Lions President Matt Millen echoed after learning of the $200,000 fine levied against him last week by National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, an action that has caused quite a stir within the NFL and the media alike.
No, the attempts of the NFL to increase the presence of minorities
in higher positions within the league are not as simple as my attempt and
subsequent failure at purchasing a Milky Way. But they're not as
complicated as league officials have made them, either.
And no, I am not a racist. I believe there are many qualified African-American and other minority coaching candidates available and coming into their own.
Marvin Lewis is the perfect example. If you look at the talent that other white Bengal coaches have had over the past five years, the team’s record is quite perplexing. Akili Smith (Who is talented, but didn’t have the right coach), Darnay Scott, Ashley Ambrose, Carl Pickens, and even current Bengal Corey Dillon, have all donned the orange and black, with minimal success. Lewis now has the chance, and will succeed I believe, in doing what those other white Bengal coaches couldn't: Taking a talented team and turning them into a winner.
Millen, though, in former San Francisco 49ers Coach Steve Mariucci, knew he had his guy. He had just suffered through 27 losses in two seasons with the departed Marty Mornhinwheg at the helm. Mariucci, who did not mesh well with former 'Niners Coach Bill Walsh, now in the front office, was fired in January after the 49ers went 10-6 and lost to the Super Bowl-champion Buccaneers in the NFC playoffs.
But Millen wanted Mariucci. He knew he was the man for the job, and would, with the right off-season moves (like the drafting of another homestate guy, Charles Rogers) would get the franchise headed in the right direction, much like I knew the Milky Way was the right delectable treat to take care of my hunger.
So Millen went after the Michigan native, and I went after the Milky Way, and we were all destined to be together and happy. No questions asked.
But NFL officials started asking questions after the hire, because of a conference in December when team owners agreed to a policy that any team conducting a search for a head coach must interview at least one minority candidate.
The rule is essentially garbage. Like I have said, I am all for advancing minorities within the league's front offices. Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, was a great player and does great things for the players in the league. But he and his colleagues are doing minority-coaching candidates a disservice with this policy.
The point is that no minority head-coaching candidate wants a mercy interview. Dennis Green, an initial candidate in both Dallas and Detroit, declined an interview in Detroit and was briefly "interviewed" in Dallas after learning both teams knew whom they wanted. That brief interview: Dallas owner Jerry Jones asking Green if he was interested.
So let me get this straight. The NFL is instituting a policy that teams can manipulate just enough not to get in trouble? Detroit attempted to interview five minority candidates, but unlike Dallas, couldn’t get one of them to lie to the NFL for them, like Jones did with Green.
Why wouldn't Green and other minority candidates decline interviews
with these teams? Why would Green, knowing Parcells and Mariucci, two
established NFL coaches, were already in place, be willing to interview
with a team who didn't want him?
The NFL has put these teams in a precarious position, and Millen was the first major victim. A team knows who they want, and makes it known publicly. But they have to interview a minority candidate, and they attempt to do so. But no minority candidates will waste their time with said team, because said minority knows they have no chance at a job that is virtually already taken.
So who's the hypocrite here? NFL teams, for not giving minorities a
chance, or the NFL for putting these teams in a no-win situation?
Outstanding!!
The NFL has it all wrong like the man said. Minority canidates will soon take their place among the best coaches in due time. The NFL has to right a wrong in which they have instituted. Joel is the man in the article, he knows he's holdin it down for the 86-87 scoreboard in the 3-1-8.
Joel, you are the proverbial shit. Badass article. Good viewpoint. I love the sensual chocolate of milky way as well. It's like an orgasm in your mouth.
I enjoyed Joel's comments. I think that the NFL should maintain its policy to provide a fair opportunity for minority candidates, but the Lions did not do anything wrong. In the NFL, if you dont produce within 3 years, you are gone. Your ethnicity, race, etc, have no negative effect on your job status. If you can win, you are in, its that simple. Millen attempted to interview minority candidates, but none were interested. Joel's candy bar analogy was legendary. I laughed hysterically, that is what continues to make him the best in the business. Hollar
--THE MASTADON