Lions pres, Millen, fined $200K.

Total BS. Matt Millen fired Morningweg after discovering that Mooch would be available. Why interview candidates just for the sake of interviewing. It sounds like the NFL wanted Detroit to interview some minority candidates just to promote diversity.

Yes, there is a shortage of black coaches in the NFL. But fining teams for not interviewing minority candidates is not the way to go about changing things.

 

i agree that this is a bunch of crap. i understand and agree with the goal of having more minority coaches in the league, but i dont think this is the way. there have already been many instances where a minority has been interviewed just to satisfy the rule when the coaching decision has already been made. the interviewees themselves have said it is degrading sometimes b/c they know they are only going in for the interview b/c of their minority status and have no chance at the job. some people have even turned down interviews beforehand b/c they knew it was going to be a joke. i am in no way claiming that i have an answer to all this, but i do know that this way is not it. the lions should not be fined for their actions. this rule is a joke.

 

I thought there were a couple of black coaches that were called and declined the interview because their name wasn't "Token".

 

Perhaps the NFL's rational is that even if the team already knows who they want, the publicity of being interveiwed is helpful for qualified minority coaching candidates. That's what I can come up with, at any rate. They're underrepresented, that's for sure.

 

I would agree with most of the sentiment that the Lion's should not be fined,

However, ass-clown in the flesh Mr. Millen hired his last incompetent coach Morningweg because he was a buddy, the good ole boy system, which the NFL is trying to break up. We all know Mariucchi is competent but if there is one GM who should be forced to break out the good ole boy system it is Millen, because of his Morningweg hire. If it was almost any other team I wouldn't agree with it but because it is Millen, I can't blame the NFL.

 

Let's be clear on what the issue is. The issue is Millen not complying with an NFL regulation. For that, there is no question that Millen should be fined. Your opinion on the merits of the regulation are not the subject of this debate. As many of you know, my opinion on the subject of racial quotas (in their many forms) is highly negative. Millen could have brought in the token black candidate, spoken to him for an hour and sent him on his way. It not like the NFL is making him *hire* someone who is an underrepresented minority, just talk to them. Millen easily could have complied with this regulation.

I have long maintained that the skill set needed for coaching is much different that than needed for playing. Therefore, the correlation that the racial quota proponents draw between the relative disparity between minority coaches and players is completely unfounded. As an example, Ray Lewis is a wonderful player, but he sure as hell isn't coaching a team that I paid $500mm to acquire. We have been around and around on this debate many times. My final thought on this is if an owner pays big bucks to purchase a team, it is in his best interest to hire a coach that will bring the most success to his team. For the NFL to attempt to override his decision-making process by trying to tell him what is in his best interest is ludicrous. Any sensible businessman will attempt to maximize profits, and he will do this by employing the best people. If his racist beliefs play a role in his decision, then he will be left with a smaller pool of candidates and a weaker coach. He will pay for this decision financially. That is the penalty for racism in a free market system.

 

I think it is a bunch of crap, simple lipservice to the idea of more minority coaches. Forcing a team to interview candidates that have no chance to be hired is ridiculous. I think that the NFL needs more black coaches, along with college football, but forcing teams to interview people that they have no intention of hiring is ridiculous. All of the minority candidates knew this and thus avoided interviewing for the job.

 

Actually, I agree with pretty much everything you said. It's like the old joke.

A friend of mine got busted for something he didn't do. He didn't run fast enough.

Millen broke the rules, so he gets fined. If they don't like the rule, they can change it.

I also agree that teams should hire the best available candidate and it is certainly possible that racist hiring practices could backfire.

The only caveat to that is when the team has a building heavily financed by the city. When the taxpayers share in the burden of making the team profitable, they have every reason to expect that the team be held to a very high standard when it comes to its hiring practices.

Owners of teams constantly complain that they simply cannot remain profitable and therefore field a winning team without new facilities and they want the taxpayers to foot the bill or at least split it with them. Once that relationship is forged, the team is no longer simply responsible to its fans. It is now responsible to the taxpayers as well.

And if an owner does, for whatever reason, have hiring practices that exclude minorities, the taxpayers have a right to have a say in the matter just as investors in a publically traded company would have the right to have a say in the decisions of its company's board of directors.

 

And thus the rest of your post can safely be ignored. Way to give a heads up TJ!!!

 

Read it closer, No Worries. It says *your* opinion is not the subject of this debate. Not mine, but yours. Mine, as usual, is highly relevant.

On the issue of taxpayer accountability (when applicable) due to publicly financed arenas, this is very much grey area. Yes the building contributes to the overall profitability of the franchise. The owner of the team does not own the portion of the building that was publicly financed. The bondholders own that. With this in mind, the only decisions that should be influenced by the public should be those that relate to the piece of the facility owned by the public bondholders. In my mind, these include maintenance, concessions, and construction duties. The owner of the team has exclusive control over the on-field activities. It is very hard to argue that the bondholders of the arena have any type of claim on the players or coaching staff.

 

What a joke. He should have been fined a few million. The last man on a roster probably makes $200k. Big whoop for a guy who owns an NFL franchise, probably the most profitable of all sports franchises to throw away $200k on circumventing the rules in place to level the playing field that said rich ass NFL owner spent years unleveling.