Fewell: I think I can be a candidate, if I choose to be

[homeslice5484]

He sounded as if he might not want the job. Said he would decide after the season if he would be a candidate.

[Nighthawk]

Good...I don't want him anywhere near this team next year!

[HHURRICANE]

This team cannot afford to try yet another experiment.

Fewell has to realize that he will not be the HC next year.

[OpIv37]

I'm thinking this is "I know they're not bringing me back, so I'll go out on my own terms."

[T-Long]

I'm sure he has heard all the rumors and the statements made my Ralph. He knows he is just a band-aid for the rest of the season. He is auditioning for another job somewhere else by how he finishes here.

[X-Era]

I'm sure he has heard all the rumors and the statements made my Ralph. He knows he is just a band-aid for the rest of the season. He is auditioning for another job somewhere else by how he finishes here.

Is he technically auditioning here? Isnt that an interview? :couch:

[Nighthawk]

Is he technically auditioning here? Isnt that an interview? :couch:

I'd love for somebody to clear this up...because didn't he have to "interview" with Ralph to take over?

[BertSquirtgum]

he's is ****ing dreamland anyway. no way the bills want him.

[X-Era]

I'd love for somebody to clear this up...because didn't he have to "interview" with Ralph to take over?

One would think so... I sent the question to Florio...

Maybe we could get Sal or Pat to do some digging and answer this for us?

[trapezeus]

i don't really understand what is happening here.

Is this his way to stick it to the bills and be like, "i'm not going to be your token interview, find some other minority to interview. I'm not making this easy for you to hire someone else who most likely will can me anyways."

But to be fair, his defenses seem to do ok, and mike shanahan was firing DC's left and right. so perhaps they are a match if that were to work out.

[LarryBoy]

Buh-bye! :bigwave:

[Typ0]

I'd love for somebody to clear this up...because didn't he have to "interview" with Ralph to take over?


But the job next year is not the one he just took over. This job is an interim position. The hiring process will start and the Rooney rule will apply to the hiring process for next years full-time position. I really don't see the logic people have that because PF was put into an interim position that filled the rooney rule requirements. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[bflojohn]

This from a coach who just recieved his most significant job promotion, and he spouts off with a comment like that? The essence of his statement is "If I choose to be" and the response I'd give him is a swift kick out the door! Hey Perry, guess what..... It's a two way street here champ, and the Buffalo Bills are suddenly serious about the Head Coaching position, going forward. Maybe I'm being harsh, but if it was my franchise, I'd monitor, very carefully, what my employees were saying in a derogitory sense.

[Mudflap1]

Shanahan already has his DC picked out... some guy named Bob Slowik?

As for Fewell, I think Op is right, it is his way of having things on his on terms as well, like "don't just assume I would roll over and take this job... maybe I want to be a DC, maybe I want to go somewhere else, maybe I don't want to be someplace where I'm not the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 558th choice".

[Buckets]

So... You guys want a lame duck coach who doesn't think he'sw good enough or doesn't give a s**t for the rest of the year.

[Griff]

if it wasn't for Byrd and the sudden drop in special teams play April would be the HC right now.

[Griff]

So... You guys want a lame duck coach who doesn't think he'sw good enough or doesn't give a s**t for the rest of the year.

this season is over for us, so yes to have a better next year.

[HAMMER]

So... You guys want a lame duck coach who doesn't think he'sw good enough or doesn't give a s**t for the rest of the year.

At this point I don't think anyone gives a ***** about the rest of the year, players, coaches, and fans.

[Typ0]

This is just more drama grasping by the drama queens. PF gets to choose if he wants to be a candidate for a job or not. DUH.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

I wish him well.

somewhere else.

[Ed]

I'm really not a big fan of the Rooney rule. I understand the intent, but is it honestly going to ever help a minority get a HC job? People are going to hire the people they want regardless of race. Forcing teams to interview certain people just seems insulting to everyone involved.

[trapezeus]

I'm really not a big fan of the Rooney rule. I understand the intent, but is it honestly going to ever help a minority get a HC job? People are going to hire the people they want regardless of race. Forcing teams to interview certain people just seems insulting to everyone involved.

well more african americans are coaches now than they were before. So it is working. its not skin off anyone's back. You interview a capable candidate and make a decision with all of that at your disposal.

[Mudflap1]

I'm really not a big fan of the Rooney rule. I understand the intent, but is it honestly going to ever help a minority get a HC job? People are going to hire the people they want regardless of race. Forcing teams to interview certain people just seems insulting to everyone involved.

Mike Tomlin. He was interviewed because of the rule, and the Steelers ended up being blown away and hired him.

[BuffaloBlitz83]

Mike Tomlin. He was interviewed because of the rule, and the Steelers ended up being blown away and hired him.

Wrong. Pittsburgh interviewed Ron Rivera due to the rule.


But while Rooney's team is here at the Super Bowl with an African-American coach, Mike Tomlin, he says that hiring Tomlin in 2007 had nothing to do with the Rooney Rule.

"Mike Tomlin was not part of the Rooney Rule," Rooney said today. "We had already interviewed Ron Rivera (who is Latino), and so that fulfilled the obligation. We went on, had heard about Mike, called him in and talked to him. He was very impressive. We got him back and talked to him on the phone often and he just showed that he was going to be a terrific coach, which I think he is coming to be. But he was not part of the Rooney Rule."

[Mudflap1]

Wrong. Pittsburgh interviewed Ron Rivera due to the rule.


But while Rooney's team is here at the Super Bowl with an African-American coach, Mike Tomlin, he says that hiring Tomlin in 2007 had nothing to do with the Rooney Rule.

"Mike Tomlin was not part of the Rooney Rule," Rooney said today. "We had already interviewed Ron Rivera (who is Latino), and so that fulfilled the obligation. We went on, had heard about Mike, called him in and talked to him. He was very impressive. We got him back and talked to him on the phone often and he just showed that he was going to be a terrific coach, which I think he is coming to be. But he was not part of the Rooney Rule."

What is Dan Rooney going to say at the Super Bowl? "Yes, we interviewed Mike Tomlin because he was black. It's my rule, so I figured I should have done something to back it up. Sure we already interviewed a Latino, but I figured I'd go the extra distance."

Sure, they may have interviewed Ron Rivera, but Rooney is a politician, they brought in a couple of minority candidates. The truth is, Whisenhunt and Grimm were the frontrunners far and away, but they brought in Tomlin (minority candidate who perhaps in the past may not have been given the interview since Whisenhunt and Grimm were both considered the strongest choices), and Tomlin blew them away.

Let me put it another way. Rooney was the creator of the Rooney Rule. Yes, it covers minority candidates. However, being realistic, most minority candidates in the NFL are black. That means, most people probably think, when they hear "Rooney Rule", that the team probably needs to interview a black candidate. Rooney knows this. While Tomlin obviously is a very good coach and had the credentials, you can't tell me that somewhere in Rooney's mind, the thought process of "I'm the originator of this rule, so maybe I should extend the olive branch a little further and bring in a couple of minority coaches to set a good example" didn't go through his mind. After all, it's not like the Steelers change head coaches very often.

[Ed]

well more african americans are coaches now than they were before. So it is working. its not skin off anyone's back. You interview a capable candidate and make a decision with all of that at your disposal.
Right, but I think those coaches have made it on their own merit and would still be head coaches without the rule. I just don't think it's neccessarily helped, or else that would imply that teams wouldn't have considered hiring a minority on their own.