PITTSBURGH _ Mike Tomlin has coached the Steelers for 13 seasons. He has more NFL tenure than any coach but New England's Bill Belichick and New Orleans' Sean Payton. He has won more games during that time than anybody but Belichick. He has led the Steelers to two Super Bowls, winning XLIII Super Bowl after the 2008 season. He has established himself as one of the top five coaches in the league, maybe one of the top three.
Yet Tomlin still hears he was hired only because of the Rooney Rule.
It's sickening.
It's sad.
It's wrong.
Just as it's sickening, sad and wrong when critics still say Tomlin won only because of Bill Cowher's players.
And just as it's sickening, sad and wrong that the NFL has had to tweak the Rooney Rule, which was named after the Steelers' late owner, Dan Rooney, in 2003 and required teams to interview at least one minority candidate for their head coaching vacancy.
On Tuesday, the NFL announced teams now must interview two external minorities for a head-coaching vacancy and one for a coordinator position in addition to one for a president/general manager role. Of the past 20 head-coaching hirings in the league, which has about 70% African American players, only three were minorities. Everyone from Tomlin to Roger Goodell has expressed disappointment with the numbers. Tomlin, Miami's Brian Flores, Washington's Ron Rivera and the Los Angeles Chargers' Anthony Lynn are the NFL's only minority head coaches. Miami's Chris Grier and Cleveland's Andrew Berry are the only minority general managers.
The league wisely tabled a plan Tuesday that would have incentivized the hiring of a minority as a coach or a general manager by rewarding a team with better draft choices. Everyone from Lynn to trailblazing black coach Tony Dungy panned the idea with good reason. It puts the minority who is hired in a tough spot because it would look as if he was given the job in order to get the improved draft picks. It also goes against the integrity of the draft and the game.
What happened to doing the right thing when it comes to hiring a person for a leadership position?
What happened to hiring the best person for the job, regardless of race?
So what if the racists scream, as many did when Tomlin was hired and still are doing despite his success?
Do the right thing!
Hire the best person!
That the NFL still has to make, or at least consider, these kinds of changes shows it still has miles to go in terms of not just racial equality, but fairness.
Talk about sickening, sad and wrong.
Strengthening the Rooney Rule can't hurt. At least it will help minority candidates get in the door and get interviewing experience with the chance to convince the bosses they are ready for the job. But it only will work if owners take it seriously. Too often, they have interviewed their obligatory minority with no intention of considering that person for the job. The Dallas Cowboys interviewed Marvin Lewis in January to satisfy the Rooney Rule requirements before hiring Mike McCarthy.
Seriously.
Marvin Lewis.
"What the Rooney Rule speaks to (is) equality within the opportunity," Tomlin told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac at the NFL owners meetings a year ago. "We'll continue to fight for that."
In 2014, I asked Tomlin about the perception among at least a portion of Steelers Nation that he was hired to replace Cowher after the 2006 season only because of the Rooney Rule. The Steelers were 3-3 at the time, coming off their worst loss in 25 years to the Cleveland Browns. Tomlin's critics were everywhere.
"I don't worry about that. Really. Seriously," Tomlin said. "There are things that you know going in when you're in this business, particularly at this level, that you sign up for. You embrace it and deal with it. Then, there are certain things that come with it that maybe you don't anticipate. You have to treat that the same. You embrace it and you deal with it. But it can't dictate your day, can't dictate how you approach what you do. If you do, you're going to lose yourself in it. I'm committed to not doing that ...
"I never look for acceptance from the outside. I never have. I don't worry about that. For me, good or bad, I enjoy and love what I do. I have a passion for the game. I just love it. I don't do it for notoriety or money or pats on the back. It's about this process and the relationship I have with this game of football and the men that we work with. That's most important to me. That's where I try to remain focused. It doesn't mean much to me the things that are said, whether it's positive or negative. Not that I don't have a great deal of respect for opinions. I understand it's our job to win and to entertain. I understand that. But in terms of the commentary or the negativity, if you're not mentally tough enough to endure that, really, what am I doing here?"
It's long past time for Steelers fans to stop questioning why Tomlin was hired. They should just be happy he was.
