NFL's dumb Rooney rule

Nation: The Rooney rule as with all feel good rules made up to "help" minorities keeps getting in the way of business.

The St. Louis Rams had hoped to hire interim coach Jim Haslett as their full-time coach if he won six games, but that won't happen since the league office has stepped in and voided the contract, according to league sources. The NFL office has notified the Rams that the contract that would have made Haslett the full-time coach after this season if he won six games was not in accordance with the Rooney Rule that the league has in place for hiring practices. The Rooney Rule is aimed at getting more minorities interviewed for jobs, which everybody thinks is a good thing. But the question here is this: How can the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts name their successors without adhering to the Rooney Rule, while Haslett and the Rams are being subject to it? Haslett has won his first two games as coach of the Rams, both big upsets of Washington and Dallas, which is why the Rams are believed to be leaning toward hiring him no matter what happens the rest of the way. The clause regarding winning six games was put in before the two upsets. With Haslett four victories away from it, the league notified the Rams this week that the contract was voided. According to sources, the contention by the league is that the decisions to name Jim Caldwell the successor in Indianapolis and Jim Mora the successor in Seattle were done in the offseason. That makes them different situations.

The league said since the Colts and Seahawks jobs were not open at the time, then everything is okay. That is idiotic way to apply this rule which is about teams interviewing minorities for head coaching jobs. Haslett has basically a probation period where he has to win to get hired. If he wins out then you are wasting other people's time with bogus interviews. Fix the rule or get rid of it.