NFL to bolster inclusion policies, probe tanking allegations

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ARNIE STAPLETON

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told teams Saturday the league will look to bolster policies meant to encourage hiring of minorities, particularly as head coaches, and he pledged an investigation into tanking allegations raised by Brian Flores in his discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.

“We will reevaluate and examine all policies, guidelines and initiatives relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, including as they relate to gender,” Goodell wrote in a memo to the league’s 32 clubs that was obtained by The Associated Press.

The commissioner added that the league’s record on hiring minority coaches has been “unacceptable.”

The memo came five days after Flores sued the league and three teams over alleged racist hiring practices for coaches and general managers, saying the league remains “rife with racism” even as it publicly condemns it.



FILE - Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, left, walks off the field next to coach Brian Flores after the team's loss to the Atlanta Falcons in an NFL football game Oct. 24, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Fired Dolphins coach Flores sued the NFL and three teams Tuesday, Feb. 1, over alleged racist hiring practices for coaches and general managers, saying the league remains “rife with racism” even as it publicly condemns it. According to the lawsuit, Ross told Flores he would pay him $100,000 for every loss during the coach’s first season because he wanted the club to “tank” so it could get the draft’s top pick. Messages left with the Dolphins seeking comment were not immediately returned. (John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/brian-flores-miami-dolphins-new-york-giants-denver-broncos-nfl-dd0b50087a71f7124eb8cacc996812db

[johnthewoodworker]

1. Who do you think will win? Racist Republican white owners, or a hired brown skinned guy.

[sop]

2. The NFL is more concerned about teams tanking games than owners' racist hiring practices.

When they talk about "the integrity of the game" it really means big sports books are worried tanking will cost them money.

[Bengus81]

4. LOL...slavery??

Oh stop........

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Seems that "tanking" is pro-sports wide for draft picks, not just the NFL

(am staring at the Flyers)

And good luck with trying to get black coaches ANYWHERE, not just the NFL. It took a long time for even an org like the NBA to get up to 12 black coaches (out of 30 teams). There were only 2 black managers and 0 general managers in MLB, although the MLB skews towards Hispanics for "diversity". And forget the NHL.

This is like a redux of 20+ years ago - https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-01-07-0001130001-story.html and continues the problem with the dearth of "feeder coaches" at the college level highlighted over 25 years ago -

FOOTBALL; The Coaching Picture, in Black and White

By George Willis

Jan. 1, 1995


When Rick Neuheisel was selected to succeed Bill McCartney as head coach of the Colorado football program, he viewed himself as fortunate considering that he had less experience than the other three candidates, all Colorado assistants. But Neuheisel's good fortune was perceived by others as the clearest illustration of a pattern of exclusion and discrimination in intercollegiate athletics. Neuheisel, 33 years old and in his first season at Colorado, was selected over Bob Simmons, a 46-year-old black coach with 19 years of experience, including 7 years at Colorado.

Simmons had the title of assistant head coach, was one of the school's top recruiters and had been one of two recommended for the top job by the incumbent head coach, Bill McCartney, who also recommended the offensive coordinator, Elliot Uzelac, who is white.The bypassing of Simmons underscores the lack of members of minority groups at the head of major college football programs even though nearly 50 percent of the athletes are black. This weekend, as 18 of the country's best teams compete in 9 holiday bowl games and with a national championship at stake, not one of the head coaches is black.

At the time Colorado hired Neuheisel last month, there were only 3 black head coaches at the 170 football schools that compete at the top collegiate level. "It was an emotional setback," Simmons said when asked about the Colorado job in a recent interview. "When you're in that situation and it doesn't happen, you can lose faith." Reacting most vigorously was the Rainbow Coalition, a lobbying group founded by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, which charged Colorado athletic officials and the university's president, Judith Albino, with "blatant racism." Albino and Bill Marolt, the school's athletic director, denied that race played a part in the selection of Neuheisel.

But the coalition threatened a national request for black student-athletes to boycott the university and also threatened to inform recruits that the school may be practicing forms of racism, threats that if carried out could hurt C.U.'s quest for continued success in the post-McCartney era. "Passing up a black assistant coach with 19 years of experience was continuing the pattern of discrimination that we see in intercollegiate athletics," said Charles Farrell, director of the coalition's Fairness in Athletics movement.

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/01/sports/football-the-coaching-picture-in-black-and-white.html

[twodogsbarking]

6. They can talk the talk.

But................

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Hold my drink while I

Goodell works FOR the owners. This will be swept under the rug as much as possible.

[AZLD4Candidate]

8. The NFL will investigate itself and discover it did nothing wrong.

Just like most police "internal investigations."

[Marcuse]

9. The NFL owners pay Goodell $65,000,000 per year. Nuff said.

[link:https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/10/29/roger-goodell-salary-nearly-128-million-over-two-years|

[monkeyman1]

10. nobody is worth paying 65 mil. ? the president of the U.S. not worth that much !

nobody ! period !

[maxrandb]

11. This will last as long as corporations stopped political donations

to insurrectionist and racist voter suppressors.

In other words, about a minute.