Niners Fire Mike Singletary

[manchild24]

The Rooney Rule, established in 2003,[1] requires National Football League teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operations opportunities. The rule is named for Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the chairman of the league's diversity committee, and indirectly the Rooney family in general, due to the Steelers' long history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership roles. It is often cited as an example of affirmative action


The rule does not apply if an assistant coach has language in his contract guaranteeing him the head coaching job in case of an opening.[5] For example, this was the case when Mike Martz took over as head coach of the St. Louis Rams before the 2000 season. Also, the rule does not apply if the assistant coach taking over the head position is a minority, as was the case with Mike Singletary and the San Francisco 49ers in late 2008


So I was wrong with my comment above and Singletary.

Furthermore, since the Rooney rule is based entirely on race, some critics think the rule itself is a bad idea and others deem it itself is racist. However, because the Rule seeks to address an obvious past and present racial discrepancy among NFL head coaching positions, supporters see the Rooney Rule as a remedial measure necessary to correct already pre-existing overt and/or implicit racist bias which results in minorities never being considered or interviewed for a head coaching job. Since the Rooney rule requires an outward action (interviews of minority candidates), it is easy to defeat with sham interviews, and thus, could be claimed to be ineffective at social re-engineering.

 

[NAHSTE]

Yeah, I was just being an asshole.

Speaking of the rule, here's how it applies to Leslie Frazier:

http://deadspin.com/5720517/leslie-frazier-and-the-failings-of-the-rooney-rule

Leslie Frazier has led the Vikings to a respectable 3-2 record since taking the helm. But does the Rooney Rule prevent Minnesota from locking him up now as coach for next year, even though he's African-American? Yes and no.

We don't know for sure that the Vikings will hire Leslie Frazier. But Schefter and King think they should, he wants to be back next year, and they'd be a fool not to hire the guy who regained a team that had quit. But the Rooney Rule, put into place to raise the rate of minority hires, means they can't offer him a contract just yet.

The most well-known provision of the Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate before making any hires. So what happens when the guy they want is already a minority? Do they have to call in a white guy for appearances' sake? Or Ron Rivera?

Nope. If the Vikings want Frazier, and he wants the Vikings, the job's his. The situation has come up twice before, with Jim Caldwell and the just-fired Mike Singletary. The situations were different — Caldwell was Tony Dungy's handpicked successor, and Singletary was the fiery interim coach who earned the job with a strong showing — but neither team had to interview any other candidates.

But this doesn't mean Minnesota can just give Frazier the job tomorrow, because of a possibly misguided attempt to close loopholes. The Rooney Rule prevents teams from offering a contract to interim head coaches so they can't just hire them without having to go through the interview process. This means Frazier, minority or not, can't be named next year's head coach until this season ends. Specifically, the exact minute this season ends. In 2008, the 49ers announced Singletary's multi-year deal just hours after their final game of the season. So if the Vikings want to get this done fast, they've already had informal talks with Frazier, and will officially offer him a contract on Sunday evening.

Interestingly, Frazier has interviewed seven times for various head coaching jobs, at least some of those, we presume, simply to satisfy the Rooney Rule. Certainly the Seahawks knew they wanted Pete Carroll when they called Frazier in. What does he have to show for it, other than seven fruitless round-trip flights? I suppose they contribute to the perception that he's one of the most qualified black assistant coaches, which is pretty insulting when you think about it.

It's pointless to debate the merits of the Rooney Rule, when the percentage of minority executives in the NFL has skyrocketed since it was instituted. (It's also fruitless to speculate on whether it actually led to any hires, because no team would publicly admit it.) But we do question the wisdom of forbidding the hiring of interim coaches. If a team wants a guy and vice versa, it's a charade to make them pretend they're not negotiating until season's end. Jerry Jones knows it's stupid; he's asking for an exemption to hire Jason Garrett. And for in-demand names like Garrett and Frazier, it's not fair to anyone to keep them from signing contracts now. Their current teams run the risk of having them snatched away in the offseason. Other teams can't contact the interim coaches until next week without being charged with tampering. And the interim coaches are forced to wait for their big break and big payday, when you never know what might happen in the meantime.

The Rooney Rule's done some good work. It just needs a little work.

 

[steeljake]

mike was a great sound bite but as a head coach not so much.

 

[Senser81]

no not at all but, they thought he was the best person for the position. I just hate the roony rule, I think its a waste of your time and their time to have to interview someone even if you are not interested in them.

But they can always say now that they were an organization that hired a black coach.

The Niners never really wanted Singletary to be their head coach. When they fired Nolan in the middle of the year, the Niners didn't really want to promote Mike Martz to interim head coach because they didn't want to be stuck giving Martz the full time job. They figured Singletary would be an easier guy to promote to interim, then drop at the end of the season and begin looking for a real coach. The problem was that Singletary actually won some games initially, and the organization was too spineless to dump Singletary as they had planned. Martz left because he was upset at having a moron like Singletary promoted to interim instead of himself, so there wasn't anyone left on the Niners who knew how to run a football team.

 

[Bigpapa42]

After the horrible start to the season, I figured Singletary would be gone after the season. I liked him when they first hired him, but he just never really pulled it together from decent coordinator to decent coach. Sady that his greatest accomplishment as head coach might be getting Vernon Davis to get it together...

 

[steeljake]

If Im spelling it correctly. if the team is looking for a head coach they must interview one (Im not sure how its worded) black or minority for the position. Which I think is bullshit, what if there are no black coaches that you feel fit for hiring, you have to go and waste your's and his time for an interview

the rooney rule is not meant to make teams hire black coaches but instead to get their names mentioned in the process, that is all. it is a measure to help include the names of people some owners would not normally consider for a job. once the coach is in the interview you can bet your ass if the white man is more quailfied than the black man the cracka is getting the job.

the point being that there may not be a black coach you have considered if you never heard of him, this way the names of guys get at the very least mentioned for that job.

 

[St. Francisco]

Good riddance to him and Alex Smith. Bring on the era of Cowher/Gruden and Luck/Locker/Mallett.

 

[Rayman]

the rooney rule is not meant to make teams hire black coaches but instead to get their names mentioned in the process, that is all. it is a measure to help include the names of people some owners would not normally consider for a job. once the coach is in the interview you can bet your ass if the white man is more quailfied than the black man the cracka is getting the job.

the point being that there may not be a black coach you have considered if you never heard of him, this way the names of guys get at the very least mentioned for that job.

I feel like it's a waste of time. If an owner has his eyes set on a particular coach, the token minority interview is IMO, insulting to all parties involved. The reason everyone got a hard-on for the Rooney Rule in 2003 was because Jerry Jones knew he was going to hire Bill Parcells, but granted Denny Green a meaningless phone interview to fulfill his obligations to it.


In all seriousness, has anyone gotten a job as a result of it? I honestly do not know.

 

[biggamejrs]

I'm pretty sure the steelers were choosing between Whisenhunt/Grimm and Tomlin came in and blew them away. It also worked to get Fraziers name out there.

 

[Nukleopatra]

Good riddance to him and Alex Smith. Bring on the era of Cowher/Gruden and Luck/Locker/Mallett.

Hopefully for 49ers fans, the organization puts more effort/research into the pick before jumping the gun on Mallett, the way you do. You might be thinking ''he can't be any worse than Smith,'' but I assure you, he can be - and drafting another loser, which Mallett is, will only hurt your team even more.... Of course, as a St. Louis fan, my fingers will be crossed on draft day, that your team is as stupid as you are, when it comes to drafting quarterbacks.

Go 49ers/Mallett.

 

[SuperKevin]

I hope they get Mallett too. Seeing how the 49ers are the white people's Oakland Raiders up there, it's only best that they get the white version of Jamarcus Russell.

 

[St. Francisco]

Hopefully for 49ers fans, the organization puts more effort/research into the pick before jumping the gun on Mallett, the way you do. You might be thinking ''he can't be any worse than Smith,'' but I assure you, he can be - and drafting another loser, which Mallett is, will only hurt your team even more.... Of course, as a St. Louis fan, my fingers will be crossed on draft day, that your team is as stupid as you are, when it comes to drafting quarterbacks.

Go 49ers/Mallett.

You're right...I'll just wait for Sam Bradford's son to come up.

 

[Realist]

I'd settle for bringing Mooch back though.

This. should have never let him go

 

[packersfan4eva]

49ers need Bill Cowher.

 

[adembroski]

49ers need Bill Cowher.

Fuck.That.In.The.Ass.With.A.Stick.

 

[Boucher]

Jake Locker in San Fran! A match made in heaven

 

[adembroski]

Jake Locker in San Fran! A match made in heaven

Fuck that too... overrated as HELL. If he's taken in the 1st (and I don't think he'll go before the 3rd, as teams wont take long to realize he's all hype) he'll be a bust. Lifetime backup, at best.

For the record, on the Harbaugh thing... I'll take Harbaugh if Andrew Luck is part of the package.