I am tentatively excited about the new Steelers coach. Tentatively, because it sounds so far like he's got the perfect qualities to be a head coach--so long as he doesn't try to overmanage the offense or defense and just let the coordinators do their work. He's kept Dick Lebeau and promoted the wide receivers coach to fill Whisenhunt's spot, so it looks like he's gunning for continuity and won't switch to the 4-3 that he knows so well. He has a good reputation of motivating and earning the respect of his players. So far, I don't see much happening there that I don't like. Although, I can't wait until he gets an awful call against him so we see which part of his face is most pronounced when he's furious. Let's hope it isn't his chin, cos that's an impossible act to follow.
[Eddie Murphy impersonating Bill Cosby voice] NOW...
Jemele Hill wrote a column on Page 2 today about Tomlin getting hired. And what it is, mostly, is a big long blowjob parade about how great it is that we're getting more diversity on the coaching level. By now, most of us have seen mention of the "Rooney Rule", which the Steelers owner lobbied hard for that requires all NFL teams to interview at least one minority for coaching positions (whether that's just head coach or any coach, I'm not sure). Hill has this to say: "Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney, who was behind the NFL's minority-interview requirement, deserves a lot of credit because hiring Tomlin demonstrates his commitment to diversity is real."
If I'm Mike Tomlin and I read that, I am furious. Maybe I wasn't the best guy for the job, but Dan Rooney has a commitment to diversity, so I get the nod? Bullsh*t. I worked hard to help my teams succeed and make a name for myself, hoping that one day my credentials would be good enough to take over a job like this. I'm no token.
Are we to all strip down naked and frolic through the meadow on the day when the race and ethnicity of the NFL head coaches perfectly mirrors the ratio in the national demographic? News flash. We should be way more worried about there being more Hispanic coaches. The story shouldn't be about why Tomlin was hired, but why Ron Rivera was NOT hired. Such bigotry from the Steelers front office. I'm ashamed to call myself a fan.
We shouldn't hope for a day when there's enough representation by the minorities. We should hope for a day when every coach has earned their job through hard work and a good reputation and race doesn't enter into it one way or another.
...of course, that means that we'd be looking at 32 Asian coaches. Standing around on the sidelines without any playbooks or anything, just a headset and Sun Tzu's Art of War.
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4 comments:
I think tehre's been a lot fo talk right now because it's teh first time a black coach has been in the Super Bowl, and not only that, it's both, and so forth. So it's on everyone's minds. After this year, it will probably die down.
This whole thing started a couple years ago when there were like 2 black coaches and Marvin Lewis was the most obvious choice but he and Romeo Crennel hadn't gotten job offers. Now that they have, and others are as well, it will likely be less of an issue in the future.
But the whole thign about other minorities is that, umm, most of them aren't playing football. Hispanic and Asian coaches will come once there are a significant amount of Hispanic and Asian players. If ever. Although, I should note that there have been a lot of Samoan and pacific islanders in teh league for years. Maybe when Junior Seau gets a coaching job in a few years, it'll make some news.
Art of War, eh? I think Parcells read that before meeting with TO. It didn;t work.
Seriously, I think he's a good fit. the Steelers did good... but I would have liked to see them keep Whisenhunt and Grimm, though, or at least Grimm. They helped establish a great line, a solid run game, and teach Benny. Grimm is one of the ebst o-line coaches in teh league. They really need to find some creative guys on offense, guys who know quarterbacks to keep him progressing.
why is my name coming up as anonymous? let it be known for teh umpteenth time that i think this new blogger business is crap.
HATE it.
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