Eric D. Williams took over the Seahawks beat and Seahawks Insider blog in December. Williams has covered the Seahawks, Sonics and high school sports for The News Tribune since joining the paper in 2006. Eric lives in Tacoma with his wife and two children.
Tacoma News Tribune columnist Dave Boling also contributes to the Seahawks Insider blog.
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The Seahawks will have a press conference on Wednesday at noon, at which they will announce that Jim Mora is going to be the replacement for Mike Holmgren as head coach next season, a story first reported by Fox Sports' Jay Glazer. The Seahawks would not confirm the story, though the calling of the press conference is virtually confirmation. Apparently, hiring Mora gets around the Rooney Rule, which requires one minority candidate to be interviewed for any opening, by naming him with a contract the successor, which means there officially is no opening. Among the many questions, it will be interesting at tomorrow's press conference to see how the organization says it is going to handle the transition from Mike Holmgren's staff to Mora's staff.
COMMENTS:
da da da da daaaa
I'm lovin' it.
The Rooney Rule is not affirmative action; it does not require any hirings based on race. Rather it is a means of opening doors for minority candidates who may not have had the connections to get in front of the decision makers with their ideas/styles.
The Colts and Hawks are not the first teams to 'get around' the Rooney rule. There have been coaching searches since the Rooney Rule that have been little more than going through the paces for the team to hire the guy they knew they wanted. When a decision has been made without a conserted effort to find the most qualified candidate who is best suited to bring an organization a Lombardi Trophy, it is usually the organization that loses out. I hope this is not the case with my Seahawks as candidates like Jason Garrett and Josh McDaniels, amoung others are left uninvestigated.
for those who think it's racist, you're racist. Everybody deserved a chance.
I feel for UW tho... what happens if Ty fails to win 6 games again now?
1. I'm largely ok with this as long as it doesn't undermine Holmgren in 2008 & cause problems. Mora's probably as good as anyone else available & he'll have had 2 years to learn the team.
2. I think there is a real possibility Willingham does get fired in the next year or 2. What then? Personally I can't understand why anyone would rather coach college then the NFL between the NCAA's ridiculous 1000 page rule book & the rigors of recruiting, but Mora has said that UW is his dream job.
The Rooney Rule does not even needed. He already is a minority. He is of Hispanic ancestry. Case closed...
As for the Rooney Rule, I oppose anything that is basically "window" dressing. Any organisation that wants to hire a specific coach is still going to do so, regardless of how many minority or non minority coaches they interview. Forcing organistions to bring in "token" coaching canidates just so they can say they are in compliance, seems like a bad idea to me.
The real fact is that winnning in the NFL is more important than race and time changes a lot of things. Coaching just lagged behind the player positions as far as racial issues go. Evnetually coaching will catch up.
"Jim Mora is going to be the Seahawks head coach beginning in 2009. In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, FOXSports.com reported the news first. We've confirmed it independently. The Seahawks don't have any confirmation, but there is a press conference scheduled for noon on Wednesday.
Mora came to the Seahawks after three years as Atlanta head coach. He coached the Seahawks secondary in 2008 and served as assistant head coach. He was a candidate for Washington's head-coaching job, but withdrew himself from consideration.
Coach Mike Holmgren will coach one final year with the Seahawks. His contract expires after 2008 and he announced last month this will be his final season with the franchise."- Seahawks Times
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/seahawks/
so much for a break Frank eh? Maybe next bye week? :(
This does not mean that there won't be a change in some of the coaching staff but, it does help.
Now, about this year's Super Bowl... did anyone else see the non-calls on pass interference during critical plays that reminded them of a called back touchdown in another past Super Bowl?
Will I ever get over SB XL? ;-)
Z
Like I said before, I think his energy will be a nice thing for this team.......we need to show a lot more heart and determination and energy that I think is missing.
The big question will be what the offense will do.....how will this affect the offense?
This will be interesting.
How many White coaches has there been at Grambling,Alcorn St.,Howard.Jackson St.If there are rules for one shouldn't that rule work for everone?
Will Ruskell be able to run all over Mora,maybe thats why Ruskell wanted Holmgren out of the way.
I also believe Ruskell will pick in the first round in the draft a CB,It will be Terrel Thomas from USC,or it will be Tracy Porter from Indiana.
If TRU don't agree with what Ruskell wants to pay him he will be gone traded maybe.If Ruskell lives up to the way he has done business it will be a NFCW team.
Lets just hope in the next 20 days or so we have some good news about seahawks signings - meaning we brought our key guys back, before they get on the open market.
Under most circumstances this would really scare me. The one thing that makes me feel okay about this is the Big Show. I've got to believe that he has had conversations with all of his assistants about their futures and about this move. He has tempered their expectations and prepared them for this. I'm sure there is some resentment going on within the coaching staff. Hopefully it ends soon. Heck, maybe Zorn resented it? Maybe Nolan Cromwell did? We do not know. But I'd love to hear from Ruskell, Holmgren, and perhaps Haskell, how this is being handled internally. People will not say they are miffed, but I'm sure some are.
Nice pull on the Mora is a hispanic thing. Not that it matters....
the Rooney rule IS a GOOD THING, because now owners must consider people of color, when in the past they probably easily glossed over them.
there already were black coaches, and there will be more black coaches in the future. giving them some sort of advantage because they are black IS RACIST, politically correct or not. it would be racist if a less qualified white person were hired over a more qualified black person as well.
I don't think this is the case. Ruskell was assistant gm in Atlanta while Mora was there. He has consistently brought good people from Atlanta that he knows, this is a continuation of that.
Besides, Holmgren is too tall, can't have that in a Ruskell system. Mora is a better fit (kidding). Not to slam Ruskell here at all, but does it seem to anyone else that he goes out of his way to get small players? I understand he has made a career of signing de-valued short guys like Tatupu, but doesn't it seem sometimes he goes a tad too far (branch maybe is an example)? Just a question.
All we can do is support him at this point in time and see what happens.
This is an example of exactly how to do it.
For an example of how not to do it, see the Redskins.
If the NCAA had this rule, which they do not, more minority coaches would likely be hired. There are more minority head coaches in the 32 team NFL than there are in all of division one college football...by far.
That's another good point. In terms of recruiting a top player this off-season, this move makes it much more appealing, in light of Holmgren's announcement, to know that there is stability in the organization, and also let's them talk face-to-face with the guy they know is going to be their coach after Mike leaves.
Oh yea, and I am sure Dungy signed off on this racist move as they are doing the same thing in Indy.
Of course you can ask United airlines what is was like to be saddled with nearly a thousand underqualified folks because they were minorities....What a bitch when they couldn't get them to meet upgrade qualifications....Just more imposed non-racism....
This is a good move. Period.
Notice how the Division Rank opponents have reversed? In 2007 *and* 2008, we host the NFC North. Apparently, they reversed the order after the first full intra-conference cycle of 6 years.
I wasn't sure if they had made a mistake this year or not...I even emailed Frank and got no response (surprise surprise), but apparently they had this in mind from the beginning.
The colts and Hawks did not have to 'get around' the Rooney rule (as reported by reporters that don't do the slightest bit of homework before posting stories)for a couple of big reasons:
1 - Caldwell is black, Mora is Latino
2 - Since 2002 the rule specifically has stated that hires from within the organization are not subject to the rule because their will be no interview process in which to participate.
Does anyone know if this is an unprecedented move? I don't recall another situation where a coach was in his final year, announces he is only coaching that final year.....and then the team announces who will be his successor before that year is over?
boneheads
mora goes to washington(redskins) gets the offer, comes back to seattle
gets better offer, before mikey makes his decision to stay or go.
deal was in place to replace mike before he decided to come back for one year.covering there ass, so no extention for mike, one and done
free agents, (ours and everyone else's) know what there getting for the next 5 yrs.
rooney rule ...please.
I know I am probably reading your quote a little too literally, but "underqualified folks because they were minorities" needs more explaining.
I'm hoping that you meant to say that they had a financial incentive (quota) to hire people that were less than qualified because they were minorities, and not that they were underqualified BECAUSE they were minorities. Clarification?
This is a move not unprecedented as the Colts have named a replacement coach for Dungy after this year. Same situation as Hawks.
My "quote" was literal and expanding upon it: United Airlines at the time was the world's largest airline. They did not hire a female minority due to her inability to meet the minimum requirements. The government made a example of them and forced them to hire several hundred minority employees both male and female although mostly female. When these employees met the requirements to upgrade as desired they had the largest failure rate in industry history.
But that's real world.
This is football.
Best guy gets the job. It's rediculous to make this racial as I want the best guy to coach the Hawks. This move places a guy groomed in the offense with a defensive mind and yeah he did a great job last year with the DBs to be our coach. Damn. He's white. So what, he's also from here. His dad was a great coach.
This is football. Make your point.
The Seahawks hired Mora as DB coach with the additional title of Assistant Head Coach. This meant he was the HC in waiting. DUH! And there is nothing wrong with that. People dont like it because Mora isnt black, and thats stupid.
Wayne Fontes, Art Shell, several other coaches got thier jobs and Fontes kept his through 12 years of futility due to thier skin color: white guys would have been canned much faster. Same with Willingham: he has his job due to the color of his skin. And that folks, is a form of racism.
paulb--"It is impossible for a disadvantaged group to be racist, by definition." That has to be the single stupidest thing I have ever heard! Minorities can, and often are, just as racist as some white guys. One side of my wifes family are some of the most racist people i have ever met--they make hillbillies look tolerant, and they are very much minorities. Any time one race puts another race down or seeks to put thier race ahead of another, that by definition, is racism.
The Rooney Rule is in place for a reason. The problem I have, is that in todays NFL, winning is the most important thing--look at the Belicheat fiasco. Do you think for one minute that an NFL team would pass on a guy they thought could win just because he was a minority???
What bothers me is that when teams like Seattle or Indy promote from within, they get grumped at by idiots whining about the rooney rule. The rule is in place to make sure that when there is an open search for a HC, QUALIFIED minority candidates dont get ignored. Just because a guy is a position coach or coordinator doesnt mean he is qualified to be an HC, and its seems that is ignored if the person is a minority.
Mora is well qualified to get the chance to be hawk HC, and he has paid his dues working as assistant HC.
PapaHawk--Dwayne Board hasnt even served as a coordinator, he has no business even being mentioned for HC. And Marshall for HC is laughable as well. The guy has one of the most talented, fastest defenses in football, and cant figure out how to utilize them, and you want to nominate him for HC candidate?? Id say he has to have the Hawks D finish in the top ten a couple years in a row before any HC openings are mentioned in the same sentence as his name.
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