Wins -- not race -- go a long way Yesterday, he opined that the Rooney Rule was working because the number of minority coaches was increasing the NFL.
His arguments:
1. As soon as there is a minority coach as bad as, say, Rich Kotite or Dave Shula, then the Rooney Rule can be changed.
2. The Rooney Rule worked once: with Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.
That's it. Taylor is getting paid pretty good money to write this tripe and it should make everyone, including every minority out there, sick that he's cowtowing to a bullshit, worthless and offensive sort of Jim Crow laws that marred this country and forever remain as a pockmark on this country.
The Rooney Rule forces an NFL owner to give an interview to a minority candidate. There are no rules as to whether that interview has to be an actual interview. When Jerry Jones hired Bill Parcells, he gave Dennis Green a 20-minute phone interview.
The Rooney Rule is no different than Jim Crow laws of "equal but separate." It's no different than patting an African American on the condescendingly on the head and telling them to drink from his own water fountain that is in disuse and disrepair.
It's no different than sending a African American child to his or her own school with out-of-date and used books in a building unfit for even an eight-hour habitation.
The Rooney Rule sends race relations in this country back 40 years. Even white people know this.
Taylor, per usual, forgets just how bad Mike Singletary, Art Shell and Dennis Green have been. Being an awful coach knows no color already. If you need a bad minority coach to make the Rooney Rule dumb, it's already happened.
He also does not mention Ray Sherman. He was the African American wide receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys. He was given a token interview by Jerry Jones (who hires a wide receivers coach?) even though everyone on the planet Earth knew it was going to Jason Garrett.
Why Taylor does not mention this is ludicrous and just beyond comprehension!
Not only did Sherman not get the job, but he was subsequently fired yesterday. Maybe he wanted out. Maybe Garrett wanted him out.
Either way, that was a travesty. A comedy of errors and a gigantic scar on the NFL and the United States.
Mike Tomlin does not make the Rooney Rule right. Just as getting their own school, water fountain, bathroom or side of town makes segregation right.
The Rooney Rule can have a use. Except it shouldn't be used for the head coach. Instead, institute it for assistants. Again, no one was hiring Sherman as a head coach after being a wide receivers coach. But if he were an offensive coordinator, he might have a shot in four or five years. Head coaches are hired based on race, white or black. They're based on experience.
Wade Phillips was hired due to his knowledge of the 3-4 defense and his personal influence on a highly-ranked San Diego defense. Not because he was white.
However, he's a wash out. Like Green, Singletary and Shell. Being a bum sees no color.
Taylor knows what will put more African Americans in coaching roles: Success. Wins. Highly-ranked offenses. Super Bowls. Playoff wins. Defenses that pop the snot out of you. He knows this, yet he puts forth a half-assed effort to support a derogatory rule.
I found Taylor's column short sighted, dumb and downright offensive and if he truly believes that shit that he was writing, then I have even less respect for the man than I already did.
