Steelers owner Dan Rooney said on Tuesday that he wants the league to take a look at whether the arrangement between the Rams and interim coach Jim Haslett undermines the rule that bears Rooney’s name. Rooney’s comments come in response to reports that Haslett has a clause in his contract that guarantees him the head-coaching job in 2009 if he wins six games. The Rooney Rule requires all teams with a coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority candidate. It does not apply to interim hires. “I think they should be looked at,” Rooney said of the Rams’ situation with Haslett. “There’s no violation because there’s no fast rule. When you start putting things in there like if a coach wins six games he keeps the job, that starts skirting the rule, to me. If you make a [coaching] change during the season, it makes sense that you have to look within your organization. But then when you get to the end of the season, I think there should be an open search.”
Actually, Haslett’s contract guarantees him either the job or a seven-figure payment. So the contract doesn’t violate the Rooney Rule on its face. The Rooney Rule will be violated only if the Rams fail to interview a minority candidate after the season and before hiring a “permanent” coach.
The challenge the Rams could face in this regard is finding anyone (black, white, red, brown, purple, or yellow) who’ll interview for the job when it likely will be a no-brainer that the Rams will want Haslett to stay.
Then again, Haslett is emerging with each passing week as one of the hottest potential commodities on the head-coaching market. Does anyone think that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will have forgotten how well Haslett prepared his team to beat Dallas if (when) Jones is digging through the rubble of another failed season and asking himself whether presumptive golden boy Jason Garrett truly has the chops to lead the locker room?
And so it might be easy for the Rams to find other candidates for the job, but only because Haslett might be a candidate for several others.
Still, the bigger question is whether the time has come to get rid of the Rooney Rule. At some point, the answer will be “yes.” At this moment, it seems fair to at least ask the question.
For more on this point, we give you a little PFTV. Feel free to add your comments.
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