The Oakland Raiders have always been known as the renegades of the National Football League. From their earliest days under the late Al Davis, the vaunted silver and black has always skirted the lines of decorum, circumvented rules, and all out cheated to get things done.
Whether it was hiring a young linebackers coach named John Madden as their head coach in 1969, a Super Bowl squad led by a Latino head coach and QB in the ’80s or hiring the NFLs first Black head coach in Art Shell, the franchise often went against the norms of the day. Now, with the hiring of John Gruden as their head coach to a record $100 million contract, insiders are speculating they abused the Rooney Rule to get it done.
The Fritz Pollard Alliance, named after American footballs first black superstar and head coach, is taking the Raiders to task for breaking the rules, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe.
Ben Volin on Twitter
The Fritz Pollard Alliance wants the NFL to investigate the Raiders over its compliance with the Rooney Rule
The Rooney Rule, created at the behest of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, is meant to break up the old boys network that keeps recycling coaches, oftentimes leaving minority coaching candidates by the wayside.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, USC coordinator Tee Martin and Bobby Johnson were interviewed for the position. But now logistics and semantics are coming into play as speculation mounts about whether the duo were used as window dressing to mask a decision the Raiders brain trust had already made beforehand.
Ian Rapoport on Twitter
The #Raiders interviewed #USC OC Tee Martin and Oakland TE coach Bobby Johnson to satisfy the Rooney Rule.
On December 31, Gruden was expected to replace Jack Del Rio as the head coach. Nearly a week later, it was announced that he would be getting a 10-year contract worth $100 million.
There is also debate whether Martin, an offensive coordinator at USC, or Bobby Johnson, the team’s tight end coach, were ever serious candidates for the job.
You cant poor syrup on crap and call it pancakes. And you also cant play games with the aspirations of two brothers simply because you want to give the APPEARANCE of compliance on the Rooney rule.
Thats called faking jacks, a major no-no on any level.
