The Denny Green Rule Strikes Again!!!

So I’m at the bus stop waiting on the bus to class when this kid I know comes up to me and asks if I still write for Spartannation. Then when I get home my sister instant messages me and asks when I’m writing another blog. Ok. I get it: It’s been awhile, I’m sorry. But the wait was worth it because I have some real stuff to get off my chest.

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I’ve hated the Dennis Green rule since it was implemented in both the NFL and college. It’s actually not called the Dennis Green rule; it’s called the “You must interview at least one minority for your head coaching job” rule. My father and I started calling it that because once he was fired from the Vikings EVERY NFL coaching position that was open you could be sure that Dennis Green was going to be interviewed for it, just so teams could meet the quota. Remember when the Lions hired Steve Marriucci without interviewing Green, um, I mean a qualified minority coach? They got in serious trouble. Wait, no they didn’t. They got a slap on the wrist.

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Now UM interviews Ron English for its head coaching job and you KNOW they don’t want to hire him. They wanted Les Miles. They wanted Kirk Ferentz. They wanted a big-time name to coach their big-time program, not some minority with no head coaching experience. But rules are rules. If UM really wanted to hire English they would’ve done it by now.

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But it’s worse in college than it is in the pros. As of January of this year there were seven out of 119 D-I schools with a black head football coach. And you know what happened to one of them? He was fired after leading his school to five straight bowl games! UCLA’s Karl Dorrell was fired from UCLA after going 35-27 in his five year stay, including winning 11 games in 2005, and beating the number 1 team in the nation last year and winning 7 games. All that in the second toughest conference in the nation. You can’t deny that black coaches are held on a MUCH shorter leach than white coaches. Just look at Tyrone Willingham, fired at Notre Dame after starting out the same as Charlie Weiss. And who got the 100-year, 361 Gazillion dollar contract extension? Right. Dorrell getting fired amazing me considering not once in his stay at UCLA did he have a losing record.

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And speaking of the toughest conferences in college football, Sylvester Croom became the first black coach in SEC history in 2003 and the SEC has been around for, oh I don’t know, 75 years. Why can’t minority coaches get a fair shake in college football? There’s a MADATORY rule stating that a minority coach must be interviewed and THEY STILL CAN’T GET HIRED?!?! And don’t give me the “they’re not qualified” line. This is football, it ain’t that hard. And how are they supposed to gain this head coaching experience if they can’t get a D-1 head coaching job? Boggles my mind.

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So I’ll sit back and watch as this spring/summer in both the NFL and college the same qualified minority coaches will fly around the country interviewing for jobs they know they won’t get because the powers that be are afraid of making a change.

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Somebody get Dennis Green on the phone and ask him if he wants a job.