ignatiusjreilly
Footballguy
Exhibit A: The NFL Keeps Failing Hiring 101
Exhibit B: Just How Big A Problem Is Nepotism In NFL Coaching?
I don't want to turn this into a discussion of the Rooney Rule, partly because I think it's a highly flawed mechanism and partly because I always find those types of discussions end up being unproductive. But one thing I've noticed is that often people who oppose the RR seem to have an underlying assumption that it's a violation of some kind of natural, meritocratic order. And articles like the ones above highlight how mistaken that assumption is.
IMO, the problem ultimately boils down to this: the final decision maker will always be the owner, and owners are pretty much all a bunch of (temperamentally) conservative old dudes who made their money in the Old Economy. And the decisions they make reflect exactly the biases you would expect to see from a group like that: an overreliance on safe, traditional choices, an overemphasis on existing relationships (hence all the nepotism), and zero belief in the idea that diverse hiring practices are a smart business strategy (and for the record, when I say "diverse" I'm referring to far more than just race).
In fact, one reason I've moved away from my initial lukewarm support of the Rooney Rule is because I've concluded it doesn't really address the underlying issue. If teams were truly committed to the spirit of the rule, they would treat it as an opportunity to broaden their horizons during coaching searches and consider candidates who hadn't all followed the same well-trod path. The problem is that they don't actually care about any of that stuff, so instead we often see a lot of cynical box checking where teams interview minority coaches who have virtually no chance of getting the job, just so they can meet the requirements.
I don't know what the answer is. I don't think there is -- nor should there be -- any rule that can fundamentally force teams to change the way they hire. (Also, as the second article points out, nepotistic hiring may be unfair, but it has also produced coaches like McVay and Shanahan, who aren't just great coaches but who may be great coaches precisely because they grew up around the game).
What I do hope happens is that some new owners come along and recognize the situation as a market inefficiency a la Billy Beane in Moneyball. They start hiring differently as a way to gain a competitive advantage. Don't choose your coaches from the same three buckets (hot OC/DC, hot college coach, retread). Come up with a long-term plan and stick to it, rather than blowing everything up every 2-3 years.
We've seen some changes at the margins in recent years, and of course, franchises like the Steelers and Ravens have been employing smarter strategies for years (it boggles my mind that more teams haven't consciously tried to copy their methods). But I'm not holding my breath that we'll see widespread adoption of new hiring practices anytime soon.
Exhibit B: Just How Big A Problem Is Nepotism In NFL Coaching?
I don't want to turn this into a discussion of the Rooney Rule, partly because I think it's a highly flawed mechanism and partly because I always find those types of discussions end up being unproductive. But one thing I've noticed is that often people who oppose the RR seem to have an underlying assumption that it's a violation of some kind of natural, meritocratic order. And articles like the ones above highlight how mistaken that assumption is.
IMO, the problem ultimately boils down to this: the final decision maker will always be the owner, and owners are pretty much all a bunch of (temperamentally) conservative old dudes who made their money in the Old Economy. And the decisions they make reflect exactly the biases you would expect to see from a group like that: an overreliance on safe, traditional choices, an overemphasis on existing relationships (hence all the nepotism), and zero belief in the idea that diverse hiring practices are a smart business strategy (and for the record, when I say "diverse" I'm referring to far more than just race).
In fact, one reason I've moved away from my initial lukewarm support of the Rooney Rule is because I've concluded it doesn't really address the underlying issue. If teams were truly committed to the spirit of the rule, they would treat it as an opportunity to broaden their horizons during coaching searches and consider candidates who hadn't all followed the same well-trod path. The problem is that they don't actually care about any of that stuff, so instead we often see a lot of cynical box checking where teams interview minority coaches who have virtually no chance of getting the job, just so they can meet the requirements.
I don't know what the answer is. I don't think there is -- nor should there be -- any rule that can fundamentally force teams to change the way they hire. (Also, as the second article points out, nepotistic hiring may be unfair, but it has also produced coaches like McVay and Shanahan, who aren't just great coaches but who may be great coaches precisely because they grew up around the game).
What I do hope happens is that some new owners come along and recognize the situation as a market inefficiency a la Billy Beane in Moneyball. They start hiring differently as a way to gain a competitive advantage. Don't choose your coaches from the same three buckets (hot OC/DC, hot college coach, retread). Come up with a long-term plan and stick to it, rather than blowing everything up every 2-3 years.
We've seen some changes at the margins in recent years, and of course, franchises like the Steelers and Ravens have been employing smarter strategies for years (it boggles my mind that more teams haven't consciously tried to copy their methods). But I'm not holding my breath that we'll see widespread adoption of new hiring practices anytime soon.
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), and how Zimmer hiring his son is probably not a great call. But if it was his call to decide whom to hire, and he wanted to hire his son ... Let me crunch some numbers here ... oh yeah: he is going to hire his son. If Mike's boss thinks that's idiotic, his boss can fire him. "Huh, things are starting to come together now, this could actually work ..."
