Blackout of '06

My wife tells me that was her grandmother's favorite (and only) response when one of her grandchildren came running to her, complaining that they'd been wronged by some playmate. "Well, baby," she'd say with an all-knowing look, "now you now."

What she meant was: Now you know the playmate is really an insecure, self-hating loser. Or something like that.

Well, football fans, now you know.

Now you know the NFL's Rooney Rule requiring teams to interview at least one African-American, Hispanic or Asian candidate for any head coaching vacancy just ain't enough.

Now you know that while it remains that if one of us fails, we're all deemed potential failures; if one of us succeeds – or even six of us – well, the rest of us are still deemed potential failures in many eyes.

Now you know that the dream of being judged by the content of our resumes (hey, that's what it said in the first draft; honest) not the color of our skin is not yet realized.

Last month, one of my youngest journalistic colleagues, a brother who's a columnist at a major metropolitan newspaper, said he felt the idea of hiring a black coach in the NFL was finally a "non-issue." Not after a season in which half of the league's six black head coaches reached the playoffs, one chased history with a 13-0 start, and another was named Coach of the Year.

Now, my young brother, you know that soooo ain't true.

Not long ago there were 10 NFL head coach vacancies. Many of us thought at least two of the myriad capable minority assistants would be hired. It was nice feeling.

Would Tim Lewis, the New York Giants' respected defensive coordinator, finally get a top gig after his team's solid performance this season? Would Indianapolis d-coordinator Ron Meeks benefit from the visibility he gained holding the Colts together as Tony Dungy and his family mourned their tragic loss? Would Chicago Bears defensive chief Ron Rivera get tabbed after crafting one of the best defensive units in NFL history?

Or would one of the lesser-known but equally qualified assistants get an opportunity? Guys like Jim Gray in Buffalo or Washington defensive coordinator/line coach Greg Blanche? Now we know. Thirteen minority coaches sat for 25 interviews, according to the league. But each of those men is still looking for his first opportunity to be an NFL head coach. Herman Edwards, the Kansas City Chiefs' new head coach, is the only coach of color among the nine men hired so far. The irony of his hiring is that Edwards, a long-time friend of the Chiefs' president/general manager and departing head coach, was hired through the same sort of OBN (Old Boys Network) that historically hired only white coaches. I guess that's one way of overcoming.

The second-most distinctive component of the recent hires (behind the overall whiteness of them, of course) is that eight of the men are first-time head coaches. Good for them all. Everyone should get their shot.

I'm not even going to quibble with most of the hires. God bless ‘em. But three of them don't make a lick of sense.

The New York Jets replaced Edwards with Eric Mangini, whose most viable qualification seemed to be sharing headsets with guru-of-the-moment Bill Belichik of New England. Mangini was the Patriots' defensive coordinator for all of one season. One.

Tim Lewis has been a coordinator for six seasons; Meeks, four; Rivera, two.

No matter. Mangini was A Belichik Guy and that was enough for the Jets. The other knuckle-head hire was Mike McCarthy, who became Brett Favre’s boss after directing the worst offense in the NFL last season with the San Francisco 49ers. Yes, the worst. So that makes him qualified to coach a certain Hall of Fame QB and one of the game’s great franchises? What’s that about?

Then just Sunday night, it was reported the Bills had agreed to terms with Dick Jauron. Yeah, I had the same reaction. He’s a former Coach of the Year (2001) who went 35-46 in five listless years as the Bears' head coach. For the last two seasons, Jauron was defensive coordinator for the toothless Detroit Lions. This was the best candidate available? To 80-year-old Marv Levy, now back running the Bills, apparently so.

Now, we know.

The NFL does not have a lock on white men allowing subtle racial insecurities to override their ability to see an obviously-qualified person of color in a visible, senior management position. It happens every day in almost every industry – industries where there are no Rooney Rules. It happens because we were perhaps naïve to believe it was possible to change embedded attitudes in a single generation. While I consider myself to still be a young man, I am old enough to remember segregation, to remember police dogs and arrests, to remember not being able to eat in some restaurants.

I recall as a youngster being proud to see black men like Bob Gibson pitch in the World Series and all but stunned as a teenager seeing Joe Gilliam play quarterback in the NFL. Today we have black CEOs at Fortune 500 companies, a black Secretary of State who’s being mentioned as a potential Presidential candidate and, wonder of wonders, NFL teams with two black QBs.

Not that we should be satisfied at all with progress as it is. Six black men in charge in the NFL seemed pretty damn good not long ago. Now, in the midst of what may forever be called the league’s Blackout of '06, it suddenly feels empty and not at all satisfying. Good. Maybe we got lazy. Maybe we got complacent.

Well, now we know.