The NFL today voided the contract between St. Louis Rams interim coach Jim Haslett and the team .  The contract stipulated that if Haslett, who took over for Scott Linehan three weeks ago, should win six games, he would be promoted to head coach.  The NFL cited "The Rooney Rule" which dictates minority candidates must be interviewed for head coaching vacancies.

"The Rooney rule" is in  place to prevent discrimination.  Yet, a middle aged white man, who, if he performs his job well, is not given the opportunity to continue his employment without his employer hosting a non-sensical dog and pony show.  I call that reverse discrimination. 

The NFL has totally missed the point.

If Haslett continues to win in St. Louis, there should be no question that he should get the job.  If the Rams go, say 8-8 and want to keep him, interviewing for a head coach becomes a moot point.  What minority candidate is going to want to interview for the position knowing that there is no way they are going to get the job?  What non-minority coach would want to for that matter.

If Mike Singletary, an African-American recently named interim head coach of San Francisco had the same clause in his contract would the league look the other way? Possibly, because Singletary fits the correct image the league wants.

There will be opportunities after this season in Oakland and perhaps Kansas City, the Jets, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Cincinnati.  Three of these teams are coached by African-Americans. How will the league react if Romeo Crennel, who is black, is replaced with Bill Cowher who is white?  Is Cowher a qualified NFL head coach? Yes.  Does he have a proven track record of success? Yes.  Would you, if Cowher were available and ready to accept a position look any further?  No way. The people that pay to watch the games would be ecstatic.

The fact is, there are 32 head coaching opportunities in the NFL.  A team should pick the coach that they feel most comfortable with, regardless of color.  There have been successful black coaches in the NFL just as there have been white ones and it probably is not nearly as big an issue as the media and the league make it out to be.

When the team loses a lot of games, the fans will be calling for the coaches head no matter what color it is.