Dungy just called out Maturi

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re3886

re3886

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for not interviewing Super Bowl winning coach Mike Tomlin. Is it really only institutionalized racism, or no track record of recruiting? The fact he didn't even sit down with him does seem odd. Not trying to start a fight, but am curious what others think of this.
 

I thought Maturi interviewed Charlie Strong?

Maturi made it clear that he wanted college football experience, mainly in the recruiting department. Tomlin had 2 years as an assistant in at the Division I FBS level.
 

Ya, I'm not sure its institutionalized racism. Isn't there a rule you have to interview a minority candidate, or is that just in pro sports? In any case I do think he interviewed Strong so its less a case of racism and more about Maturi not listening to Dungy.
 

Kind of pisses me off to learn that Maturi didnt even interview him. Would have been a great hire.
 

re3886 said:
for not interviewing Super Bowl winning coach Mike Tomlin. Is it really only institutionalized racism, or no track record of recruiting? The fact he didn't even sit down with him does seem odd. Not trying to start a fight, but am curious what others think of this.
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I'm not a big fan of Maturi's, but he did interview Charlie Strong as one of the three of four guys we reportedly were serious about, so to suggest it is institutionalized racism lacks some credibility.

Ultimately, I think it came down to JM had no idea what to do, spent a bunch of money on a search firm, and only talked to those people the search firm suggested. How that list was derived, I have no insight on, although we talked to some that made sense and a few that did not even within that list.

There are enough issues with our AD, we don't need to make others up...
 


Brewster was hired for his recruiting ability, as was already stated. It had nothing to do with race. I love Dungy but calling it anything else is stupid.
 

FireCosgroveGuy said:
Brewster was hired for his recruiting ability, as was already stated. It had nothing to do with race. I love Dungy but calling it anything else is stupid.
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I turned the channel as soon as I knew what they were going to talk about.
 

two things. Racism was not my charge it was Dan Patrick's and Tony Dungey's. Two, Tony could fix those numbers by one with one phone call by him.
I had not remembered his name but I knew we had interviewed at least one minority, and been refused by another. One thing that can't be argued is, that the perception is that it is easier to become H.C. in the NFL for an African American (an inherently silly name) then NCAA and particularly the BCS schools.
 

It always has something to do with race. Don't fool yourself. The best recruiter at the U is not Brewster, it is Cross. Ask the players! The glass ceiling is still in fashion. Most universities are much more interested in "taking a chance" on unproven white guys like Fisch (who never even played football at ANY level himself) than in giving qualified candidates of color a serious look. The politics of big boosters with deep pockets still pushes universities to hire coaches who look more like the university president/boosters and less like the players. Just do the math.
 



Fact 1: We have an African American head coach of the basketball team hired by this AD.

Fact 2: Charlie Strong was one of the finalists for the football head coaching position.

You can argue that Maturi made a mistake by not interviewing Tomlin but the facts seem to contradict any accusation of institutional racism. Tomlin has been successful at Pittsburgh but we have no idea what kind of success he would have had as HC at Minnesota because it is a very different situation.
 

I didn't see this on TV, but it disappoints me if Dungy really said that.

The fact of the matter is there was no need to interview Tomlin. He would never have taken the Gopher job. Not in a million years. He was already being talked about as a future NFL head coach. No way he lets a job at the University of Minnesota short circuit that. He was already in a position from which he could immediately become an NFL head coach. To even insinuate that the U was in some way racist because it didn't interview a candidate who would have had zero interest in the job is a terrible thing for Dungy to do to his alma mater. In addition, the sub-headline with this seems to infer that by not interviewing (and potentially in turn hiring) Tomlin that the U made a mistake with Brewster. Now, that may well be true. But, for Dungy to undermine Brewster in that subtle way is - well, very un-Dungy like.
 

He did not call out Maturi by name and Gopher fans are probably the only people in the country that have any idea who he was referencing.

He basically called out the Presidents of all BCS schools in that there is 1 black BCS coach. He said that Black coaches are taking lesser roles in the NFL knowing that their chances are better moving up. Mentioned Tampa Bays coach was a DC in college and took a position coach job in the NFL.

Dungy also mentions that the Steelers hired Tomlin a month later softening his comments.
 

More than anything I'm amazed at the suggestion Tomlin would have even considered this job.
 



Am I missing something? Didn't Dungy say "an athletic director I know"? Does that mean it's Maturi because Dungy is an alum, or because of the timing or what? I mean, the coaching fraternity is amazingly tight. I would expect Dungy to know a number of college AD's, either through football or other activities with which he's involved.
 

re3886 said:
for not interviewing Super Bowl winning coach Mike Tomlin. Is it really only institutionalized racism, or no track record of recruiting? The fact he didn't even sit down with him does seem odd. Not trying to start a fight, but am curious what others think of this.
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IIRC Didn't Dungy directly endorse Leslie Frazier?
 

MNRideorDieChick said:
The politics of big boosters with deep pockets still pushes universities to hire coaches who look more like the university president/boosters and less like the players.
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I agree with this. Just ask Sylvester Croom.

That said, I tire a bit of Dungy's sanctimony on this issue.

Further, the pro and college games may as well be on different planets when it comes to how programs are run.
 

50PoundHead said:
I agree with this. Just ask Sylvester Croom.

That said, I tire a bit of Dungy's sanctimony on this issue.

Further, the pro and college games may as well be on different planets when it comes to how programs are run.
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As Brewster has so adequately demonstrated.
 

Handsome Pete said:
More than anything I'm amazed at the suggestion Tomlin would have even considered this job.
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Pittsburgh Steelers or Minnesota Golden Gophers... Hmmm...

Tough call for Tomlin. Seriously, why would Dungy bring this up now? I think it was pretty clear that we would have had little shot with him, even if we had went after him.
 

grunkiejr said:
Fact 1: We have an African American head coach of the basketball team hired by this AD.

Fact 2: Charlie Strong was one of the finalists for the football head coaching position.
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Don't forget Fact 3: Tony Dungy could have the Minnesota job in the next five minutes if he wanted it.
 

centerofmn said:
Pittsburgh Steelers or Minnesota Golden Gophers... Hmmm...

Tough call for Tomlin. Seriously, why would Dungy bring this up now? I think it was pretty clear that we would have had little shot with him, even if we had went after him.
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Yeah why would he bring it up, and wasn't he also offered the coaching job? So why play the race card?
 

This does not look good for Maturi at all. He obviously talked to Dungy about the job and Dungy recommended Tomlin. For whatever reason, Maturi did not think Tomlin was the right guy for the job. Then Tomlin wins the Super Bowl a year later and is lauded by the media as an excellent coach. This one is on Maturi - he looks very bad for not listening to Dungy's advice. If he had talked to Tomlin and Tomlin said he wasn't interested, Maturi would have been off the hook. If Maturi asks Dungy for advice in the future, he should pay attention next time!!!!!!
 

Our dream coach is Dungy. Dungy is a minority. Obviously the race card here is invalid.
 

Just because someone recommends a guy doesn't mean you have to follow through. If Maturi was looking for a guy with college/recuriting experience, why waste the time on someone who doesn't fit what you're looking for. Yes, Tomlin is a really good NFL coach; however, you cannot just assume that he would have made an equally good college coach. Maybe he wouldn't have been a good recruiter or academic motivator. Maybe he wouldn't be able to deal with the issues of college kids. Who knows? Spurrier and Carroll weren't good NFL coaches, why can't it happen the other way around.

Dungy is now a part of the media which means he needs to create stories. We don't know if he was in fact talking about Maturi (I didn't even consider it until it was brough up here) and if so, he definitley left out (on purpose) the part where Strong was a leading candidate. He's just trying to come up with an angle to get people to watch his show.
 

Every black football coach in the country is looking to Tony Dungy to publicize this issue and advocate for the hiring of more black head coaches in both college and the NFL. As a Super Bowl winner and one of the most admired coaches (black or white) in America, I would be shocked if Dungy would not be willing to do that. Many people will say that he is playing the race card. I prefer to view it as Dungy trying to help correct a major injustice in the sports world.

I don't blame Dungy if he is unhappy that Maturi apparently asked for his advice but chose not to even interview Tomlin. People go on job interviews all the time without a legitimate expectation that they will be hired for the job, or even take it if it is offered. Dungy himself was interviewed many times for NFL coaching jobs without being hired. He understood that even if it was a token interview he would use it as an opportunity to sharpen his interviewing skills for the next job that came along. It could be that is all Dungy wanted Maturi to do for Tomlin. That is how I am going to view it.
 

Could it be that all you speculators are wrong? When did Dungy say it was to Minnesota and Maturi that he recommended Tomlin? He didn't, so you don't know for sure and anything else is here-say.
 

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