Groundhog’s Day

What is a bombshell?

News broke earlier this week that Brian Flores, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, was filing a lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants. The lawsuit alleges that the Broncos and Giants operated in concert with the NFL in enabling its organizations to discriminate against minorities to keep them out of head coach and front office positions. The lawsuit has widespread implications and has been described as a bombshell for the league, but is that accurate?

In 2002, the NFL’s diversity committee implemented the Rooney Rule. Named after it’s creator, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the Rooney Rule was a direct reaction to a report that chronicled the difficulty that Black head coaches faced trying to advance their careers in the NFL. The report provided evidence and examples that despite winning records, Black head coaches were more likely to be fired and less likely to be hired than their white counterparts. The report was written by U.S. Civil Rights attorneys Cyrus Mehri and Johnnie Cochran. Yes, that Johnnie Cochran, but I digress.

The Rooney Rule established that as part of the hiring process for head coach and front office jobs, organizations had to interview at least one minority candidate outside of their organization. The rule does not explicitly state that they have to make minority hires or establish minority quotas, unlike affirmative action. It only meant that teams had to extend interviews to minorities before announcing their final decision. Flores alleges that teams have been interviewing minority candidates with zero intention to actually hire them and instead using them to meet the Rooney Rule minimum requirements. After one such sham interview with the Giants, Flores decided now was the time to file his lawsuit.

After Flores and Houston Texans coach David Culley were fired last month, the number of Black head coaches currently sits at one: Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. There were three Black head coaches in 2003 when the Rooney Rule was implemented, so the situation has actually regressed. If the data backs up Flores’ allegations, is it truly a bombshell?

I have two main issues with this situation. It’s not that Flores was fired after two winning seasons with the Dolphins in three years, despite having all of his top talent traded away. It’s not that the Broncos’ GM John Elway showed up hungover for his sham interview with Flores. It’s also not that Bill Belichick’s stray text message started this whole legal avalanche for the league. The two issues I have with this situation, and the NFL in general, are the myth of integrity and the myth of self-governance.

Flores has stated that his standing within the Dolphins organization took irreparable damage when he refused to “tank” for a higher draft pick. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Flores a $100K bonus for each game they lost during the 2019 season, and Flores refused. Subsequently the Dolphins did not have the top draft pick and top prospect, and 2022 AFC Champion, Joe Burrow ended up going to the Cincinnati Bengals instead. Ross wanted a “company man” to carry out his vision for the franchise, and Flores refused to lose because of the devastating lasting impacts that may have had on his head coaching career. Now as a result of this lawsuit, he may be blackballed similar to NFL public enemy #1 Colin Kaepernick. How ironic.

I’ve spoken about this previously but the league rewards company men, regardless of race. The margin of error becomes razor thin for minority coaches, but ultimately the league wants people in key positions that will act in the best interest of the league and the organizations. Casual fans still believe in this myth of integrity, that every team is doing everything it can to be as successful as possible each season. That hasn’t been the case since the league was founded in 1920.

The NFL is an entertainment product, and the league’s success depends on presenting key matchups, storylines and big games when necessary. In order to have teams that win the majority of their games, you also need to have teams that lose the majority of their games, and you need coaches who willingly agree to coach these groups of losers. As long as you don’t kick your players, you can have a long career in the league bouncing around from loser to loser.

The other main issue is the myth of self-governance. The belief that the NFL’s owners could reactively implement a policy to self-govern the people they hire to the most important positions in the league is naïve at best and negligent at worst. The list of NFL franchise owners who existed in 2002 prior to the Rooney Rule are for the most part the same owners that still own these teams in 2022. I’m not counting relatives of previous deceased owners who have now assumed ownership. I’m talking about truly new owners, which includes the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Buffalo Bills, the Carolina Panthers and Stephen Ross and the Miami Dolphins. It’s almost like the new hires that have joined the ranks of NFL ownership abide by the same practices and policies as the individuals that came before them.

We keep seeing these scenarios play out where an organization or governing body preys upon this myth of self-governance. They endure a scandal of some sort, usually with racial or sexual implications, and then a committee is formed to implement token gestures aimed at virtue signaling, quelling public backlash and allowing the organization to go back to being as profitable as possible. While these distraction tactics are occurring, no one in a real position of power loses their jobs — sorry fall guys — and the cycle simply repeats itself in the future.

Examples of this include the Me Too movement, the 2015 “Oscars So White” Academy Awards, the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal, and the institution of Juneteenth as a holiday with no attempts at attacking racial injustice. The leadership of these organizations that allowed these racist or sexist behaviors to exist and thrive has not changed since these token gestures have begun to roll out. Since no one in a position of power has changed, do we expect drastically different business practices, or do we want to move on from scandal and simply get back to the status quo?

I don’t expect anyone who’s been able to succeed off of the backs of others to suddenly have a change of heart and realize that what they’ve been doing this entire time is morally and ethically wrong. In his lawsuit, Flores went as far as to say that the NFL was being run similar to a plantation, with all white ownership profiting off of the labor of a 70% Black league of players. Do we expect them to radically change their hiring practices in 2022? Do we expect the NFL’s 32 billionaire owners to suddenly prioritize hiring the best candidates as opposed to hiring the company men that have led to the league’s unprecedented growth?

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

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