WCC creates 'The Russell Rule'

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29587872/wcc-creates-russell-rule-encourage-hiring-minority-candidates

Bill Russell, the 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, has endorsed a measure that will make the West Coast Conference the first Division I league to require all schools to include a minority finalist for job openings in athletics, the league announced on Monday.

Minorities, or no one, should be discriminated against and not considered for jobs just because of their skin color, gender, etc. However, this is too much like affirmative action for my liking. I honestly don't care if our entire athletic staff are all minorities as long as they were the best ones for the job.



Now, technically anyone who is LDS is a minority so does that count?

byufan4ever wrote:

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29587872/wcc-creates-russell-rule-encourage-hiring-minority-candidates

Bill Russell, the 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, has endorsed a measure that will make the West Coast Conference the first Division I league to require all schools to include a minority finalist for job openings in athletics, the league announced on Monday.

Minorities, or no one, should be discriminated against and not considered for jobs just because of their skin color, gender, etc. However, this is too much like affirmative action for my liking. I honestly don't care if our entire athletic staff are all minorities as long as they were the best ones for the job.



Now, technically anyone who is LDS is a minority so does that count?

You can bet they don't consider us, the LDS to be minorities. They have decided who minorities are. I'm with you, hire the best and pay no attention to anything else. Terry Porter is a heck of a coach, maybe that's not good enough. What will BYU do. I like the WCC but we may need to consider forming up with our old rivals.

Religion isn't quite recognized as a minority group. Usually it's race and sexual orientation. For some male-dominated sports, like football, a female applicant may be considered a minority.



What this means, though, is for every open position there will be a token minority that makes it to the last round. Rather than have two or three final candidates, schools will have three or final candidates.



I have to imagine for some sports it will be hard to find minority candidates.

Gunk wrote:

Religion isn't quite recognized as a minority group. Usually it's race and sexual orientation. For some male-dominated sports, like football, a female applicant may be considered a minority.



What this means, though, is for every open position there will be a token minority that makes it to the last round. Rather than have two or three final candidates, schools will have three or final candidates.



I have to imagine for some sports it will be hard to find minority candidates.

First, I wasn't being serious about the LDS minority thing, even though we are.



I have to imagine that at BYU where the unwritten requirement that the headcoach has to be a card carrying member it will be very difficult to always find a qualified minority candidate.



And you know what the next step is, right? It won't be enough to simply get minorities to the final interview. In the near future if you don't meet the right quota for minorities actually getting head coaching jobs then they will start dictating who does and doesn't get the job. Imagine the WCC comes in and says, nope, you can't hire Mark Pope because you don't have enough black or female head coaches. Your next head coach has to be minority. That's where we're headed.



Want a real world example? At my company they recently hand picked me for a new position that should have great career growth. Before I can start that new position they have to hire a new analyst that I will have to train. I was told that there were several qualified candidates whom my manager was ready to move on, but HR said that they didn't meet their new criteria. That's code for none of them were black. Our CEO has been making a big deal about meeting with our black employees and implementing whatever they feel is best. So now I can't start my new exciting job until a (hopefully qualified) black finance analyst is found. In Utah.

I don't think the WCC is going to consider interviewing a member of the institution's sponsoring faith as interviewing a member of a minority. After all, it's a conference made of faith-based institutions.



Religiosity is a problematic area to draw lines. Mormons are Christians (at least we argue that we are), and Christians represent 65% of the US population--far from a "minority". If you want to start breaking it down to organized-sect adherence, are Jesuits (Gonazaga, USF, Santa Clara, LMU) also a minority?



I think instead of BYU fans looking to play the victim card, we should just accept this for what it is--a Rooney Rule for the conference.

snoscythe wrote:

I don't think the WCC is going to consider interviewing a member of the institution's sponsoring faith as interviewing a member of a minority. After all, it's a conference made of faith-based institutions.



Religiosity is a problematic area to draw lines. Mormons are Christians (at least we argue that we are), and Christians represent 65% of the US population--far from a "minority". If you want to start breaking it down to organized-sect adherence, are Jesuits (Gonazaga, USF, Santa Clara, LMU) also a minority?



I think instead of BYU fans looking to play the victim card, we should just accept this for what it is--a Rooney Rule for the conference.

As I said in my other comment above I wasn't really being serious about the LDS minority thing. However, I am serious that this Russell or Rooney Rule is stupid and will hurt BYU. How many qualified minority card carrying member head coaches are out there? I am all for equality of opportunity. But this is the beginning of equality of outcome. You just watch. When someone notices how few black head coaches BYU has the conference will come in and force a quota.

Well we can interview a non-member who is black. They just won't get the job. The harder part is to get them to apply. Maybe it would be someone who turns into an assistant coach, or gets hired into the AD department.

byufan4ever wrote:
I honestly don't care if our entire athletic staff are all minorities...

You don't even see it, do you?