Antonio Pierce is now officially the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders!

SaintKenKen said

With the early success of Pierce and Demeco Ryans, it would be interesting to see a new trend shake out:

A) Former players that gain the respect of the locker room

B) Dweebs that are brilliant offensive minds but no accolades from playing the game at a high level

Mike McDaniel comes to mind in the second category. I feel like it could include a lot more that never played above a JuCo/Div3 level.

Also it's nice to see coaches of color in the game when it doesn't seem forced by the Rooney rule. Gotta love unforced diversity.

Click to expand...

I don't think the last point you raised is true. The Rooney Rule and the picks teams receive for grooming PoC in leadership positions has helped. It's been incredibly slow but history indicates that it could have been even slower based on the NFL's track record, the reason the NFL began these programs in the first place.

Like black athletes finally integrating southern college football in the 70s, it would be inaccurste to argue that the success black players (and now coaches) had is solely based on merit alone and is not related to access. We wouldn't presume that black players wouldn't have been good enough to play in the SEC before 1970? They would have. They just didnt have access. So why assume now, when teams are starting to embrace qualified PoC in coaching and front office positions that it isn't in some part due to getting access? The Rooney Rule and draft pick compensation have been part of the solution.