It's unfair to our population, it's unfair to the young men in our programs, it's unfair to the universities if we have teachers that are very capable teachers and we don't allow them to teach. It shouldn't matter what the race, the religion, if the young man is talented, if he's good and can help the organization and help the young men then he should have the opportunity.We need to find some constructive way to go about doing that, whether that's the implementation of some type of "Rooney Rule" in college, something needs to happen to provide a legitimate opportunity and not one of these token opportunities where somebody walks in and we satisfy the color line.
But he also recognizes change won't come without a mandate:
Most change in this country has been mandated by law. That's unfortunate because you'd hope it rests on the hearts of men. When you have to bring litigation, it makes things very difficult. You've got to be careful because you never want to do that. But unfortunately in our country, sometimes that's been the only way things have moved.
The "Rooney Rule" has always frustrated me. Most of the minority candidates only get a periphery look and aren't being seriously being considered for a position. It wasn't until Dan Rooney himself that a first time minority candidate got a top caliber job, when he hired Mike Tomlin. Dungy's hiring in Indy doesn't count. He was a known candidate from Tampa Bay. Herm Edwards with the Jets doesn't count, because well, the Jets were horrible before he arrived.
I'm not sure a "Rooney Rule" would help in college, because too many of the decisions are made by non-administration people. Boosters are such huge part of college sports and that's an old white man's club, so until more people of color get involved in this aspect we'll have situations like Auburn this off season.
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