The Indianapolis Colts caused quite a stir on Monday when they named former All-Pro center Jeff Saturday their new interim head coach despite having no previous college or NFL coaching experience, passing up several more qualified Black assistants across the NFL – some of whom were even within their own organization.
The Colts’ process seemed to take advantage of a loophole in the league’s Rooney Rule requiring teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching as the Colts simply named Saturday the interim head coach without an interview. But team owner Jim Irsay doesn’t seem too worried about that perception.
“There is no problem or perception, except some of you guys make a problem or perception,” Irsay said, according to Pro Football Talk. “But you need hits, so you’ve got to do it. I understand. I’d do the same thing. I was a broadcast journalism major, too. So, I mean, look, it’s something where there’s always going to be a lot created and a lot of words said. You know, and, you know, and I don’t know, are you guys ever held accountable? Do your editors ever bring you in and say, ‘Well, you wrote that stuff. It was all wrong. You’re fired.’ We get held accountable, that’s for sure. So but it was — it’s something that we’re following the Rooney Rule to a ‘T’, and, you know, I really look forward to the interview process at the end of the season.”
Rooney Rule aside, the Colts still hired a coach with no previous NFL coaching experience over far more qualified Black coaches.
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