Leftism spreads like a virus and infects everything it touches.
Sadly, professional sports is no exception.
And the NFL just proposed one insane leftist policy that has fans – and teams – up in arms.
Years ago, the NFL instituted the “Rooney Rule,” which meant franchises had to interview a minority candidate for vacant head coaching positions.
The controversial rule spurred some black head coaching candidates to say that they only received token interviews.
Now the NFL is putting forth a proposition that would take the Rooney Rule even one step further.
The league put out a proposal that would give teams higher picks in the NFL draft if they hired a black coach and/or general manager.
According to a release on NFL.com, if a team hires a minority head coach, the team’s 3rd round draft pick would move up six spots.
If a team hires a minority general manager, the 3rd round draft pick would move up ten spots.
If a team hires both, its 3rd round pick would be boosted by 16 spots.
Also, if a team keeps the head coach or general manager for a third season, its 4th round pick would move up five spots.
Needless to say, many people were not happy about this ill-conceived affirmative action plan.
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, who is black, said during a radio interview, “I think sometimes you can do the wrong thing while trying to do the right thing.”
This is a classic example of the unintended consequences of leftist thought.
Bullying or cajoling teams into hiring minority candidates is not only bad optics, but it likely won’t work.
Hiring the right candidate, irrespective of his race, is more valuable to a franchise than picking a few slots higher in the 3rd round of the draft.
Also, this rule would only create worse tokenism.
Lynn continued, “I think this is out of desperation, this is something that we’re throwing out there, but it is what it is . . . You can’t make people hire someone they don’t want to hire for whatever reason.”
The number of black head coaches – and assistant coaches – has incrementally risen over the last 30 years.
Since Art Shell became the first black head coach in the NFL’s modern era in 1989, there have been 17 other black coaches hired (and two hispanic coaches).
There’s no need to cram down some ridiculous policy when minority coaches are gradually getting more opportunities.
Would the NFL’s extended Rooney Rule policy backfire in a big way?
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