This has nothing to do with LSU but the NFL has fined Detroit Lions general manager Matt Millen $200,000 because he didn't interview any minority candidates for the Lions head coaching job before he hired Steve Mariuchi. Mariuchi was the guy the Lions wanted, so what was he supposed to do. Interview a couple of black and latin guys and tell them "Hey, you're not getting the job but we are wasting your time because the NFL says we have to consider minorities. Thanks for coming in but we are going to hire the white guy we wanted all along." I'm all for the best guy getting the job whether he is black, white, yellow, red or brown but lets get real. Mariuchi is a proven winner in the NFL and he was available. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones knew he wanted Bill Parcells, a coach who won 2 Superbowls with the Giants and rebuilt the Patriots from nothing and took them to the Superbowl. Did the Cowboys give bogus interviews to a couple of minority prospects just to avoid being fined? Did Tampa Bay have to interview a black guy last year even after making the deal with the Raiders to get Jon Gruden? This kind of politically correct crap is insulting to the qualified black coaches who will deserve a head coaching job based on their merits at some time in the future. Herman Edwards has done a good job with the Jets. Dennis Green did a great job during his time with the Vikings. Tony Dungy didn't take the talented Tampa Bay Bucs to the next level. An NFL team owner is going to hire and fire coaches based upon whether he thinks they can win. Like Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis said(who made Art Shell the first black NFL head coach and then fired him when he didn't win) "Just Win Baby"
Shell's winning percentage is better than 3/4 of the head coaches that currently have jobs, kind of fishy that he hasn't been offered a head coaching position. Also, he was fired after a 9-7 season, he even took the Raiders to the AFC Championship game. I guess he couldn't win the big one, but how many coaches do that in the first 5 years of their head coaching job?
Art Shell was like Dave Campo here in Dallas you knew he was not in charge. The cowboys did interview Dennis Green, but everyone here knew Parcels was the one Jerry wanted. I think Jerry and Dennis are close, so he may have been helping Jerry out. But Dallas situation was different than Detroit. Detroit only wanted one person and had a coach until this one person became available. The only reason Detroit fired Morningwig was because Mariuchi became available. That is who Millen wanted all along. Morning was the QB coach for Mariuchi before getting the Detroit job. Millen was hoping to get the next Mariuchi. If a team has no idea from the start of the hiring process who they want to hire than I can see the policy, but in Detroit's case it is a silly enforcement.
