Racial Issues Take Center Stage In NFL Hiring, Irvin Rant

Bears’ Smith Reportedly Lowest-Paid Coach In NFL

The progress of minority coaches in the NFL was examined on “Fox NFL Sunday” this week, with emphasis on the Colts’ Tony Dungy and the Bears’ Lovie Smith. Fox’ Pam Oliver asked Bears GM Jerry Angelo, “Does a black coach have to succeed ten times greater than his white counterpart?” Angelo: “I don’t want to say ten times greater. Is he in a fishbowl a little bit more? Yes, he is.” Smith is reportedly the lowest-paid coach in the NFL, and Oliver asked Angelo, “If he’s so great, why don’t you pay him better?” Angelo: “That’s around the corner, too. We talked about that, and that will get addressed in due time.” Smith, when asked if the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for a head coaching vacancy, is “an honest process,” said, “I’m the head coach of the Chicago Bears, so of course I think that way. I take everyone for who they say they are.” Fritz Pollard Alliance Exec Dir Harry Carson: “Our job is to keep the NFL’s foot to the fire, so to speak, and let them know that we are watching” (“Fox NFL Sunday,” 11/26).

IRVIN APOLOGIZES: ESPN NFL analyst Michael Irvin apologized for comments made last week on ESPN Radio’s “The Dan Patrick Show.” When discussing the athleticism of Cowboys QB Tony Romo, Irvin said he thought Romo had some black ancestry. But Irvin said, “I was joking around. But I understand my comments were inappropriate. I apologize for those comments.” ESPN VP/Communications Mike Soltys said that Irvin will continue to appear on ESPN and ESPN Radio. Soltys: “Generalizations about heritage are inappropriate even in jest, and what Michael said was wrong. We have spoken to Michael about it” (USA TODAY, 11/27). After Irvin made the comment on Patrick’s show, Patrick “asked whether that’s the only way to be a great athlete.” Irvin: “That’s not the only way, but it’s certainly one way.” Irvin said Romo’s “great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandma [may have] pulled one of them studs out of the barn” during the slave days. Patrick’s co-host, Keith Olbermann, said, “Let’s say we all steer out of this skid right now” (NEWSDAY, 11/24).

REAX TO IRVIN: In Orlando, David Whitley wrote of Jimmy the Greek and Al Campanis, “You know what happened to them when they offered their views on genealogy.” Whitley wonders of Irvin’s comment, “Didn’t it warrant some attention? Other than minor Internet mention, it’s gotten almost zero run” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 11/24). In San Jose, John Ryan writes of ESPN’s lack of explanation about Irvin’s remarks, “We’re left with this conclusion: ESPN believes Irvin is the class clown who should never be taken seriously” (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 11/27). In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich wrote the “networks who hire people like Irvin are the ones who should be apologizing, and not just ESPN. They all love guys who live on the edge, guys who say outrageous things often with no thought for the consequences” (TORONTO STAR, 11/24).