College Rooney Rule: Let's clarify something

As part of my daily routine at work, I was checking out CollegeFootballNews.com's Daily Roundtable series.

Today's discussion was interesting, as the question was "Should college football have an official Rooney Rule, the NFL rule that requires teams to interview minority head coaching candidates?"

The answer I have is: Yes, to a degree.

Before engaging in further discussion on this point, remember that the general point of the rule is to simply interview minority candidates. There is no implication that the minority candidate has to be the one hired.

I think that the issue that some people have is the issue that lots of people have with affirmative action programs; they presume that increasing the candidate pool means that they have to hire that person.

But what the Rooney Rule and a true affirmative action program sets up is an interview. That is all.

There is no mandate that the minority candidate has to be hired to fulfill some sort of quota system.

The best man will, and should, get the job. It just serves as a reminder that the best man may not always look the way he has traditionally looked.

While the Auburn hire of Gene Chizik is curious (at best, IMHO), at least Turner Gill was in the candidate pool. Now, if he wasn't good enough to get the job, then that's fine. Auburn found the coach that was the best fit.

I'd be more concerned if he didn't even get the call to come down to the Plains.