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Minority report Assistants should accept every opportunity to interviewPosted: Wednesday July 30, 2003 3:47 PM
Sylvester Croom is on target with his assessment of the hiring process. Advocates of more stringent minority hiring practices, however, should not fall into the same trap they so firmly abhor; hiring a minority simply to avoid a public relations fiasco -- real or perceived -- is not acceptable. Croom, an assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers, was a finalist for the University of Alabama head coaching position. The job went to Mike Shula. In case you don't know, Croom is black; Shula, of course, is white. And why would most fans know that Croom is black? He is an assistant coach, and unless your name is Joe Avezzano, casual fans do not readily recognize assistants. Shula, on the other hand, is the son of pigskin royalty. His dad, Don, won a few football games during his NFL career. And when the decision was made to fill the UA vacancy, 'Bama chose Shula for several reasons, including name recognition. Frank Schwab of the Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis., recently interviewed Croom. It's still early in training camp and Croom was a logical choice for a feature. After all, Croom received more offseason press than the Packers' three-time MVP quarterback, Brett Favre. Among Croom's comments: "The one thing that aggravates me, and always did, was going to bathrooms that had 'Men, Women, Colored.' That stands out more than anything else. Because to me, what that said was I was less than human. That bothered me, and it does to this day." Anyone under the age of 40 should be jarred by that admission. Most people older than 40 remember the Civil Rights movement, a time that is black-and-white footage for my generation. We cannot relate to separate but equal when it comes to race relations. It's the "can't we all get along" mentality, I guess, but even that isn't an acceptable defense. Rodney King uttered those words in 1992, long after we all should have been getting along. Some feel the Detroit Lions' hiring of Steve Mariucci as head coach was a slap in the face of minorities because no one else interviewed for the job. I understand the NFL standing behind its policy of having minorities interview for all job openings. Even if the minority is not hired, at least the coach had the opportunity to hone his interview skills. But do not fault Lions GM Matt Millen for not going through with a dog and pony show; Mooch was the choice from the moment San Francisco fired him. Detroit also contends five minority candidates turned down interview requests because they believed Mariucci's hiring was inevitable. How could Millen interview someone who wasn't there? Just as the film clips of White Citizens Councils, Black Panthers, George "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" Wallace and Martin Luther King Jr. aren't as clear in black and white, neither is the hiring process as simple as black or white -- or brown or yellow or even purple. Croom admits he still holds resentment for the way he was perceived. Others still hold resentment because they were forced to accept basic civil rights for blacks before they were prepared to do so. Those mentalities are byproducts of the environments people were raised in. More than 40 years since segregation was under siege, many of those people who fought for or against the cause are doing the hiring and interviewing for the same job. For Croom, this may have been the case. It may not have been. Either way, he said something else that everyone could learn from: "I'm happy to have been considered [for the Alabama job], and things have changed. Not fast enough in all areas, but there's no questions that a lot of people's attitudes have changed. Even since the process of the head-coaching search, they have looked at my qualifications and will continue to look at minorities, not only in coaching, but in all businesses." Those who turned down the Lions' offer for an interview should remember that. B. Duane Cross is a senior producer for SI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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