Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFLFollowing the NFL's desegregation in 1946, opportunities became increasingly plentiful for African American players--but not African American coaches. Although Major League Baseball and the NBA made progress in this regard over the years, the NFL's head coaches were almost exclusively white up until the mid-1990s. Advancing the Ball chronicles the campaign of former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman John Wooten to right this wrong and undo decades of discriminatory head coach hiring practices--an initiative that finally bore fruit when he joined forces with attorneys Cyrus Mehri and Johnnie Cochran. Together with a few allies, the triumvirate galvanized the NFL's African American assistant coaches to stand together for equal opportunity and convinced the league to enact the "Rooney Rule," which stipulates that every team must interview at least one minority candidate when searching for a new head coach. In doing so, they spurred a movement that would substantially impact the NFL and, potentially, the nation. Featuring an impassioned foreword by Coach Tony Dungy, Advancing the Ball offers an eye-opening, first-hand look at how a few committed individuals initiated a sea change in America's most popular sport and added an extraordinary new chapter to the civil rights story. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 9 | |
2 An Ideas Origin | 15 |
3 Superior Performance Inferior Opportunities | 33 |
4 Enter the Godfather | 51 |
5 The Rooney Rule | 61 |
6 The Coaching Carousel | 87 |
7 Millen Mooch and the Great Detroit Hiring Debate | 107 |
Other editions - View all
Advancing the Ball:Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching ... N. Jeremi Duru No preview available - 2011 |
Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching ... N. Jeremi Duru No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
African Ameri African American African American coaches African American head American head coaches assistant coaches athletic Author's interview began Bengals Brown Buccaneers Campanis candidates of color career Celtics championship civil rights coaches of color coaching staffs Colts Cowboys Cyrus Mehri Dan Rooney diverse candidate slates equal opportunity executives fans fired Fritz Pollard front office Goodell Harper head coaching position hiring Ibid issue Jones knew Lapchick lawyers League’s Lewis Lions litigation Lovie Smith Major League Baseball manager Mariucci Mark Curnutte Marvin Lewis Mehri and Cochran Millen National Football League never NFL head coaching NFL teams NFL’s offensive Ogletree organization Parcells Pash Paul Tagliabue Pittsburgh Steelers played playoff Pollard professional quarterback race Ravens Red Sox Rooney Rule roster season seemed Shropshire Smith Steelers Super Bowl Super Bowl XLI Tagliabue team’s tion Tony Dungy ultimately victory wanted white players Williamson Winslow Wooten York