NFL Coaching Openings As of January 17, 2006

Listed above are all of the NFL teams with open coaching positions, who the previous coach was, and who was hired to replace that coach. (Update this to reflect the selection of Sean Peyton to coach the New Orleans Saints.)

If you look at this from a perspective of minority hiring, there has not been a net gain in the number of African American coaches. Herman Edwards, who's black, shifted teams marking the first time in NFL history that an African American man has went from one team to another without being fired first.

But the pattern of disturbing hires continues. The latest being Eric Mangini, who after only one year as a defensive coordinator -- one year -- is selected as the new head coach of the New York Jets. Meanwhile, Donnie Henderson, who's black and who interviewed for the Jets head position, may not be retained on the current staff.

This follows the Packers' shocking, disturbing, and alarming hire of the 49ers Offensive Coordinator Mike McCarthy, and Sean Peyton was just hired as the new head coach of the New Orleans Saints.

There are currently six head coaches and 31 assistant coaches who are black in the NFL. You can't tell me the teams can only find three African American assistants -- Tim Lewis of the NY Giants, Maurice Carthon of the Cleveland Browns and Donnie Henderson of the NY Jets -- to interview for head coaching positions? Look, if New York Jets Owner Woody Johnson can hire Mangini, with a paper-thin resume he can select Hue Jackson.

What really bothers me is the complete silence of the black football writers -- Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post and Michael Smith of ESPN, to name some of the most widely read scribes. They've not raised a voice in protest over this problem at all.

Heck of all the famous pens out there, only Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Mike Silver has actually tried to do something about this both by mentioning it in his writing and even lobbying our beloved Cal Berkeley to hire a black coach -- Marvin Lewis -- before he was rightly snapped up by the Cincinnati Bengals (Cal hired Jeff Tedford).

Oh, I forgot to mention that my friend Sil's Jewish, not black.

Michael Smith -- in a ridiculous puff job written for ESPN's website -- even went as far as to recommend Mangini for the Jets job. Way to stick it to the brothas, brotha.

It's too bad the Johnnie Cochran's of the world are passing on; they're leaving us with a world mostly populated with African Americans in postions where they can make a difference, but are afraid to make a difference.

Do SF 49ers Talks with Ex-Raider Coach Norv Turner signal the end of The Walsh Offense in SF?

According to many reports, San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Mike Nolan is negotiating to bring ex-Oakland Raiders Head Coach Norv Turner in as their new offensive coordinator to replace Mike McCarthy, who after one subpar year was hired by The Green Bay Packers as their new head coach.

Turner, long considered one of the league's brightest minds, is not known as an expert in the Bill Walsh system of timed passes, large steps, muliple formations, and team organization. Indeed, he's placed as an expert in a style of offensive passing popularized first by Sid Gillman, and then Oakland Raiders Head Coach and now Owner Al Davis before being improved by San Diego's coach Don Coryell during the 80s, and who's system set numerous passing records with Quarterback Dan Fouts as the target.

The reasons why Turner is being considered by the 49ers are someone strange.

First, when Turner was the head coach of the Washington Redskins, he hired Nolan as Defensive Coordinator, then was forced to let him go by Dan Snyder, the team's owner. Pro Football Weekly reports that there may be "some issues" with what would be a reversal in relationships, but it appears Turner is able to come into the 49ers fold without a problem. He certainly wouldn't have to uproot his family and leave the Bay Area.

In my view, the real problem exists for the Niners 2005 NFL First Round Draft Pick Alex Smith. After just one year of not only learning a new system and the speed of the NFL, he faces the very real prospect of having to learn a new offense all over again. There are over 10 different teams that use the Walsh Offense terminology, including the 49ers under McCarthy.

Turner's not familar with a lingo that really can take a simple play and make it sound more complex than it is. So if Turner comes in as the Niners new offensive caretaker, will the plays and nomenclature change?

I think Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Coach Hue Jackson would have been a better choice for the Niners needs.

But that's not going to happen, so if Turner's able to come in and rip apart the playbok look out for another long year for Alex Smith.

Statement by NFL Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira On Troy Polamalu Play in Yesterday's Steelers-Colts Game

I obtained this directly from the National Football League

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
(212) 450-2000 * FAX (212) 681-7573
WWW.NFLMedia.com

Joe Browne, Executive Vice President--Communications
Greg Aiello, Vice President-Public Relations
January 16, 2006


"The definition of a catch -- or in this case an interception -- states that in
the process of making the catch a player must maintain possession of the ball
after he contacts the ground. The initial call on the field was that Troy Polamalu
intercepted the pass because he maintained possession of the ball after hitting
the ground. The replay showed that Polamalu had rolled over and was rising to
his feet when the ball came loose. He maintained possession long enough to
establish a catch. Therefore, the replay review should have upheld the call on the
field that it was a catch and fumble.

"The rule regarding the performing of an act common to the game applies
when there is contact with a defensive player and the ball comes loose, which did
not happen here."

Indy Coach Tony Dungy on NFL Network's "CoachSpeak" Today

I just watched "CoachSpeak" on The NFL Network about 15 minutes ago. Host Darren Horton and Coach Jim Mora Sr. interviewed Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy.

Always the class person, Dungy did back his quarterback and explain that Peyton Manning didn't mean to point fingers, but he was referring to a problem that, from listening to Coach Dungy, was part of the team's conversation during the ebb-and-flow of the Steelers game.

Dungy also said that he would take these next two to three weeks and reflect on his family and the passing of his eldest son, but for now, he was enthusiastic about returning to the Colts and being with the organization for a long time.

As a person who lost his father October 13th of 2005 and his stepfather on March 17th of the same year, I can totally understand what he's going through. I only hope Colts fans can be supportive and encourage him to stay the course. I also wish that sports fans would be more mature and reflective in their evaluation of Dungy this year.

The Colts will be back. But for a very clear set of spritual reasons, I don't think this matter of a Super Bowl win was suppose to happen this time.

But it will.

Mother Jones' Editor Clara Jeffrey shows how far women still have to go (sigh!)

I saw this in the now-current Mother Jones mag and fortunately it was online. I'm going to reprint it below. It's said to note that for all of our "progress" much has not changed. I wonder how much of this is because we as a society-- men and women -- just can't seem to embrace real equality, and so the nation slows progress in this area. I think there have been advances, but we really need to start a national dialog on this issue. We need to review where we are, and why.

Limited Ambitions

News: Why Women Can't Win for Trying

By Clara Jeffery (editor)
January/February 2006 Issue of Mother Jones

Women make 80¢ on the male dollar, even accounting for time off to raise kids. If that factor is not accounted for, women make 56¢.

Over her career, the average working woman loses $1.2 million to wage inequity.

Since 1963, when the Equal Pay Act was signed, the wage gap has closed by less than half a cent per year.

In 1963, RFK withdrew his nomination to a club that had spurned a black official and formed a club that did not admit women.

3 board members of Catalyst--a workplace-equity advocacy group--belong to Augusta National Golf Club, which bans women.

One is the CEO of GE, which won a 2004 Catalyst Award, although the company has a below-average rate of female executives.

Companies with women in top jobs see 35 percent higher returns than those without.

74 percent of female executives have a spouse who’s employed full time. 75 percent of male execs have a spouse who is not employed.

42 percent of female execs over 40 don't have kids.

For full-time working fathers, each child correlates to a 2.1 percent earnings increase. For working moms, it is a 2.5 percent loss.

Every industrialized country except the U.S. and Australia has paid parental leave with a guaranteed job on return to work.

86 percent of guests on Sunday-morning political talk shows are men. So are 80 percent of the guests on The Daily Show.

Only 5 of 20-odd "thought-leader" magazines have ever had a woman as editor-in-chief. Two of those jobs were held by Tina Brown.

Only 24 percent of recent works in The New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Magazine were written by women, according to WomenTK.com.

1/3 of those were articles on gender or family or were short stories or memoirs.

41 percent of Mother Jones' writers during the same period were women. This issue only 11 percent are.

Magazines that run lists of the best firms for women to work for often accept pay-to-play advertising or use self-reported data. Working Mother lists firms facing class-action suits for sex harassment and pregnancy discrimination. (Wow. This means most PR on this matter may be fixed!)

Working Mother recently found Allstate, American Express, and General Mills among the 8 best firms for women of color. At each, 30% of new hourly hires are women of color, but 0% of newly hired executives are.

Women over 65 are almost twice as likely to be poor as men.

Actresses over 40 account for 9 percent of movie roles. Actors over 40 account for 30 percent.

Anne Bancroft was 36 when she played Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. Dustin Hoffman was 30.

Chances that a Best Actress winner portrayed a prostitute, a nun, or a mute: 1 in 8.

Since orchestras started requiring musicians to audition behind screens, the number of women hired has increased 20%.

40% of married professional women feel their husbands do less work around the house than they create.

Each teenage girl increases a mom's weekly housework by 1.5 hours, but leaves a dad's unchanged. A teenage boy adds 3 hours to mom's chores, and an hour to dad's.

Heavyset women get fewer promotions and face more job discrimination. Heavyset men do not.

Models weigh 23% less than average women. In 1986 it was only 8 percent less.

The above statistics were quoted in a press release for a Dove product whose adcampaign uses full-figured models but the use of which is claimed to reduce cellulite.

Asked to pick a partner for a relationship, college men tend to choose women in subordinate jobs. College women show no preference, nor, for a one-night stand, do men.

Men only earn 3/4 as many B.A.s as women. Some colleges now admit to practicing affirmative action for male applicants.

Only 1/3 of female Ph.D.s who get on the tenure track before having a baby ever do so.

31.5 percent of Iraq's parliament are women. Only 15 percent of the U.S. Congress are women.

15 African nations have a higher percentage of female legislators than does the U.S.

69 percent of men believe America would be better off if women occupied more top political jobs. Only 61 percent of women agree.

Among Republicans, that split is 52 percent to 34 percent.

Under Bush , the Labor Dept. has eliminated 25 publications on pay inequity and child care.

After a woman filed a sexual-harassment complaint against her Merrill Lynch superior, she circulated an article titled "Stop Whining," which warned that "constant complaining can cost you your job."

Packers Hire 49ers' Mike McCarthy - The Alarming Pattern of Avoidance of "The Rooney Rule" by some NFL Organizations

The "Rooney Rule" was established to cause NFL organizations to at least interview and in more cases hire minority -- and more specfically black, coaches. After a review of the current pattern of hiring by many NFL teams over the course of the last month, I must sadly report that the Rooney Rule has failed.

What spurred me to write this entry -- as I attempt to hold back the tears that come from the news that The Green Bay Packers have hired San Francisco 49ers Offensive Coordinator Mike McCarthy as their new head coach -- is a wonderful trip I had to Seattle to visit a friend and attend the Seattle Seahawks game against the San Francisco 49ers last November. I really enjoyed the experience,and as a momentary aside, Qwest Field is an excellent place to watch a football game.

There was one thing -- and just one -- that was disturbing to me. The way San Francisco 49ers Offensive Coordinator Mike McCarthy called the plays during that contest.

I said this to my friend there, I've said it before, and now I'm putting it in writing. I can't see how he got his job considering that his game plans are 1) inflexible and 2) illogical. Let me provide some examples:

1) Against the Indianapolis Colts, Mc Carthy devises plays based on the Utah Spread Offense that then-head coach Urban Meyer developed and Alex Smith played in. The trouble is that McCarthy installed running plays and not passing plays for Smith. One play gained 2 yards; the other lost 2 yards, and I was flabergasted -- Smith isn't Michael Vick. It was as if he had installed a gimic rather than actually using plays that could help Smith.

2) Creating rollout pass plays that don't call for the quarterback to roll to a point and set his feet. This is really bothersome to watch. The most successful rollout plays were devised by Bill Walsh, and Al Davis before him; they call for the quarterback to rollout to a spot, then pass the football. The idea is to move the launch point of the pass first, not make the QB run. This is a common error in rollout design, even with run-pass options. It's no wonder Smith's success here is spotty, even though his ability to throw on the run makes up for terrible play design.

3) Not providing his quarterbacks with even a simple audible to take advantage of the most obvious defensive weakness. This was completely evident in the Seattle game, where the Seahawks called defenses stacked against the run on first down, what did the 49ers do? They ran. Seattle cornerbacks were lined up "bump and run" against the Niners Flanker and Split End. What did the 49ers do? Call a pass with "up" patterns to get a quick gain? No. What did they do? They ran.

On second down, the Seahawks defense "loosened" -- the cornerbacks were yards off the receivers, the safeties were back in obvious "two deep" positions, and the defensive line posised to rush the passer. What did the 49ers do? Pass.

It was enough to make me yell at McCarthy through the glass wall of the club section. I know someone got what I was saying -- it wasn't McCarthy.

4) Calling 30 runs against Seattle when they were giving the 49ers the pass. Especially on first down.

5) Calling four-wide receiver plays where there are three receivers on one side, and one pass catcher on the other, and then having the QB throw to the strong side where the three catchers are and ignoring the lone, single-covered receiver on the other side. This has happened way too often.

I could go on and on. McCarthy's early success with the Niners came because he was new to the team, and thus there was no "book" on what he would do with the 49ers offensive personel. Once NFL teams developed an analysis, they quickly bottled his offense during the year.

So all year long I'm stewing about McCarthy as the weak coaching link on the Niners, and what happens? The Green Bay Packers make this guy their coach -- without even seriously considering a black candidate. They talked to two, but selected someone not even as accomplished as Tim Lewis and Maurice Carthon.

What the heck is going on?

You can't tell me that out of over 100 black assistant coaches there aren't 20 that can be considered for head coaching positions. Look, I'm not a coach. But I'll tell you that I could take any NFL team's third string offense and develop schames to consistently beat that organization's first string defense. And I'm itching for some one to challenge me.

Why? Simple. Because -- more so that college and even high school coaches -- NFL coaches think in a consistent "box" of offensive approaches. Only once in every other decade does one person -- like Coach Walsh -- come along and get the chance to install an offensive system that really is a true shift in thinking. But with the Internet, offensive revolutions are starting at the high school and college level and not at the NFL.

Many of the people who know these are not white; they're black. Hue Jackson's a good example. Jackson has been an offensive coordinator at Cal, USC, and with the Washington Redskins. He's learned the most successful and advanced offensive concepts from Steve Spurrier and Steve Marriucci, to name some of them. Yet, he's litterally been banished to the place of receivers coach with the Bengals, forced to work with the tempermental personality of wide receiver Chad Johnson, while Offensive Coordinator Bob Bratkowski calls a set of predictable pass plays devoid of rollouts or sprint out passes, leaving his quarterbacks as sitting ducks when the pass is needed the most.

Meanwhile, the Houston Texans talk to Gary Kubiak, hire Dan Reeves as a consultant, and make a list of coaches that has contained no African American names until recently and if I'm a betting man and on this (and I am) that person will be "the token one."

Why? And why McCarthy? What is the deal? It seems that to some teams having white coaches is more important that winning. Black coaches? Just window dressing for "The Rooney Rule."

Yesterday at MacWorld San Francisco

I had the pleasure of attending my first Steve Jobs keynote speech at MacWorld, San Francisco yesterday. Well, it went like this: two plus hours of standing in line within Moscone Convention Center only to be ushered into an "overflow" crowd room to see his presentation on a couple of large screens.

I must admit to some disappointment. Especially since the dude next to me couldn't seem to keep to his own personal space, causing me to lean away from him and partway into the next seat, which was to my good fortune, empty. After a time, I got up and stood at the back of the room. That was better.

Once at my place at the back of this large room, I was able to comfortably enjoy Jobs' introduction of some hot new Apple products: the Intel-based IMacs, the new GarageBand for Podcasting, and other new devices.

This is not my first MacWorld, but it was my first Keynote speech. I'm going back for the Podcast seminars and lectures, but my advice for the future is this: skip the keynote unless you know you're going to get a front row seat and don't have to wake up at 4 AM to do it.