21 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

Ehh...again, I don't know.  Was just trying to show that some of those hires that Hawk pointed out would've probably come with or without the Flores lawsuit.

I do think there are hires that should be getting some more pub.  First time head coaches, like Mike McDaniel, should be making a splash.  (Unfortunately in this case, it's replacing another black head coach.)  But, the front office hires should definitely be highlighted.  Having Sashi Brown as team president, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as GM, and Brandon Brown/Champ Kelly as assistant GM's all named in this cycle is hopefully just a start of something more to come in future years.

 

I think one thing getting lost is (I think) more opportunities are becoming available to minority coaches and front office folks in general over the last few years. That's key. Focusing on one position (granted, the position) is important, but if the pool is comprised of only a handful of candidates, the chances of advancing to the HC position is slim. Increasing that pool is crucial.

30 minutes ago, bugatti said:

I think one thing getting lost is (I think) more opportunities are becoming available to minority coaches and front office folks in general over the last few years. That's key. Focusing on one position (granted, the position) is important, but if the pool is comprised of only a handful of candidates, the chances of advancing to the HC position is slim. Increasing that pool is crucial.

Bingo.  And like I said before, I think having a guy advance up the ladder within an organization is good.  But, if he can take those same steps up and changes organizations each time he advances, that's much, much better, because it's increased his exposure to the league.  I think if a team knows that several of their peers have hired this guy before, it'll increase the likelihood of that team being interested in him for their position (whatever it may be).

22 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

Bingo.  And like I said before, I think having a guy advance up the ladder within an organization is good.  But, if he can take those same steps up and changes organizations each time he advances, that's much, much better, because it's increased his exposure to the league.  I think if a team knows that several of their peers have hired this guy before, it'll increase the likelihood of that team being interested in him for their position (whatever it may be).

It all depends on how successful this guy has been at each stop.

10 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

It all depends on how successful this guy has been at each stop.

Well, obviously.  Same could be said for a guy staying in your organization.  If you don't perform, there's a likelihood that not only will you not be promoted, you may not even keep the position you've already got.  The problem occurs when you have someone higher up the ladder that has more emphasis on loyalty than performance.

Now there are always going to be extenuating circumstances around what impacts a guy's performance.  But a head coach that's willing to cut bait and move on tells you he's concerned more about winning than just maintaining a friendship.

On 2/9/2022 at 12:26 PM, PurplePride92 said:

And some teams actually pull it off. Like the Patriots.  I simply don’t believe that the Pats are the only team capable of doing both.  Too many are satisfied with simply making a profit.   I’m supposed to believe the Browns care more about winning than turning a profit?   The Bengals never truly cared about winning.  The Jaguars.  The Jets.  Even the Giants to a certain extent.  Do they want to win?  Sure.  Do they want to make money more than win?  Absolutely.   Do they want to both?  Sure.  But turning a profit is always more important.   

Not involved in the overall discussion occurring now.  I think you make a good point about making money over winning.  I haven't decided whether I agree in some cases.  But I do not think the Browns fit your theory.  Jimmy Haslem, Billionaire from TN has spent a boatload of money in his first years of ownership.  Not yacht-fulls of money but barges full of money.  No way they have turned a profit in the years since he first bought the team in 2012.  He has hired and fired more people than you can shake a stick at, all for the purpose of winning.  He had two or three Head Coaches on the payroll at the same time because he had to finish paying their contract even though they no longer worked for the Browns.  Haslem is trying really hard to win.  As an aside, he also has a history of hiring minorities in top positions.  Hue Jackson as Head Coach.  Haslem hired Sashi Brown in 2013 and promoted him to Executive VP of Football Operations in 2016.  Fired Brown in 2017 when the Browns were 0-12 in that season.  The reason had to do with the tug of war between Brown and Hue Jackson, analytics vs old football guy.  Haslem chose Jackson and fired Brown.  Sashi Brown, however, deserves a lot of credit for getting the Browns lots of top draft picks providing the foundation for the increased talent level they now have.  Haslem also hired Andrew Berry in 2020 to be the GM/Executive VP responsible for the 53-man roster.  This was a rehire to the Browns from the Eagles after Berry worked for the Browns 2016-18 as VP of Player Personnel.  

Any way, the Browns don't fit your money over winning model... yet.  While Haslem made a lot of mistakes early on, you can't question his commitment to win.  His actions have backed up his words, and his money has backed up his mouth.  

 

Btw, the Browns just won the inaugural John B Wooten Award for workplace diversity, equality, and inclusion across the hierarchy, given by the Fritz Pollard Alliance.  

On 2/9/2022 at 10:27 AM, CincySportsFan said:

Then make it a hiring freeze across the board then.  No coach, regardless of position, can change teams during that 6-week period.  You want to promote from within?  Fine.  But that position that becomes vacated remains open until later.

Look, I know it wouldn't be easy.  But I don't think a time "constraint" should be a road block in getting these guys additional exposure.  I mean, teams HAD to have two-a-day practices in training camp before...otherwise they couldn't get everything in.  And yet they found a way.  Teams HAD to have all these mandatory workouts and training camps...otherwise the players would slack off or not learn anything.  And yet two years ago, they found a way to do it.  Heck, even the four game preseason that's been around for 50 years, was eventually reduced to three, and there's talk that they may even go to just two.  And the almighty combine that you HAD to have your coaches at...wasn't even held last year.  Man, it's amazing that we've had football at all, given all these changes.

All I'm saying is that things were done a certain way until someone decided that there was a better reason not to.  If you want to seriously allow for an increase in exposure to black candidates, you can find a way to adjust everything else.

I admire your tenacity, but tanking the draft by getting such a late start evaluating players (both free agents and college) isn't going to help anyone.  It won't happen.  

Does anyone know, has the Fritz Pollard Alliance suggested any changes in the way the NFL implements the Rooney Rule to improve its effectiveness?  

Has the Fritz Pollard Alliance addressed the allegations by Flores and others? 

https://nypost.com/2022/02/10/nfl-begging-robert-f-smith-uss-richest-black-man-to-buy-the-denver-broncos/

"NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (left) is pulling out all the stops to woo billionaire Robert F. Smith into buying the Denver Broncos.

The National Football League is frantically appealing to Robert F. Smith, the nation’s richest black man, to buy the Denver Broncos — but thus far he has shown a reluctance to bid, sources told The Post."

Looks like the NFL is trying to make strides in ownership. 

12 hours ago, oldgrappler said:

I admire your tenacity, but tanking the draft by getting such a late start evaluating players (both free agents and college) isn't going to help anyone.  It won't happen.  

Tanking the draft?!?  Come on man.  It's not like even having the same staff in place going from one year to the next is a guarantee of hitting it big in the draft.  Sure, it may help.  But, there's no sure thing here.  If more time equaled better draft choices, teams would be firing their head coach with a month left in the season, so they could have time to find/hire his replacement and have him up and running as soon as the season ended.  But, yet we had teams that just hired their coach THIS week!

This year, the draft will happen April 26-28.  In 2000, it was held April 15-16.  And in 2014, it was held May 8-10.  So, some years they had an extra week or two to prepare, and in other years they didn't.  But, it didn't "tank the draft" by having it early, the same way it didn't necessarily make it any better by having it later.

 

On 2/10/2022 at 8:28 PM, oldgrappler said:

I admire your tenacity, but tanking the draft by getting such a late start evaluating players (both free agents and college) isn't going to help anyone.  It won't happen.  

Did you happen to catch Tony Dungy's comments during the pregame show yesterday?  He called for a "moratorium" on hirings until 10 days after the Super Bowl.  I believe his thoughts are that some of these good, qualified coaches who are coordinators may not interview well because their team is still in the playoffs.

10 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

Did you happen to catch Tony Dungy's comments during the pregame show yesterday?  He called for a "moratorium" on hirings until 10 days after the Super Bowl.  I believe his thoughts are that some of these good, qualified coaches who are coordinators may not interview well because their team is still in the playoffs.

Yeah, I saw that.  Don't know how you felt about it, but I didn't think the Super Bowl was the place or time to be throwing your opinion out concerning the hiring process.

1 hour ago, 4 Quarters said:

Yeah, I saw that.  Don't know how you felt about it, but I didn't think the Super Bowl was the place or time to be throwing your opinion out concerning the hiring process.

They had a bajillion hours of pregame to fill.  lol   It was either that, or what color socks the groundskeeper wore the day of Burrow's first HS game. 

On 2/14/2022 at 1:54 PM, CincySportsFan said:

Did you happen to catch Tony Dungy's comments during the pregame show yesterday?  He called for a "moratorium" on hirings until 10 days after the Super Bowl.  I believe his thoughts are that some of these good, qualified coaches who are coordinators may not interview well because their team is still in the playoffs.

I did not.  I missed the kick-off too. Then saw it all until the final whistle.  Shut it off during the post-game interviews.  

Restricting the time for hiring and adding games to the season by reducing the number of preseason games erodes the quality of the game.  I have a lot of respect for Dungy but don't think much of this thought for reasons stated before.  

Can’t make this stuff up.  

I enjoy being wrong sometimes.  

 

Brian Flores has been hired by the Steelers as a Senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach.