Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL(Law and Current Events Masters)

Two days before Super Bowl XLI in 2007, the game's two opposing head coaches posed with the trophy one of them would hoist after the contest. It was a fairly unremarkable event, except that both coaches were African American--a fact that was as much of a story as the game itself. As Jeremi Duru reveals in Advancing the Ball, this unique milestone resulted from the work of a determined group of people whose struggles to expand head coaching opportunities for African Americans ultimately changed the National Football League. Since the league's desegregation in 1946, opportunities had grown plentiful for African Americans as players but not as head coaches--the byproduct of the NFL's old-boy network and lingering stereotypes of blacks' intellectual inferiority. Although Major League Baseball and the NBA had, over the years, made progress in this regard, the NFL's head coaches were almost exclusively white up until the mid-1990s. Advancing the Ball chronicles the campaign of former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman John Wooten to right this wrong and undo decades of discriminatory head coach hiring practices--an initiative that finally bore fruit when he joined forces with attorneys Cyrus Mehri and Johnnie Cochran. Together with a few allies, the triumvirate galvanized the NFL's African American assistant coaches to stand together for equal opportunity and convinced the league to enact the "Rooney Rule," which stipulates that every team must interview at least one minority candidate when searching for a new head coach. In doing so, they spurred a movement that would substantially impact the NFL and, potentially, the nation. Featuring an impassioned foreword by Coach Tony Dungy, Advancing the Ball offers an eye-opening, first-hand look at how a few committed individuals initiated a sea change in America's most popular sport and added an extraordinary new chapter to the civil rights story.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ; 1. Baltimore Love ; 2. An Idea's Origin ; 3. Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities ; 4. Enter the Godfather ; 5. The Rooney Rule ; 6. The Coaching Carousel ; 7. Millen, Mooch, and the Great Detroit Hiring Debate ; 8. Birth of an Alliance ; 9. A Season of Dreams ; 10. Digging New Wells ; 11. Road to Super Bowl ; Epilogue

About the Author :
N. Jeremi Duru is Associate Professor of Law at Temple University. He has worked directly with the network of African American coaches in the NFL and brings an insider's perspective to his larger story about race and sports in contemporary American society.

Review :
There's no question the Rooney Rule has changed the NFL's culture... Reaching this point was a long, difficult road, which N. Jeremi Duru explains in his outstanding new book, Advancing The Ball. A masterpiece of social inquiry, depicting an important modern-day civil rights story. Duru tells a persuasive story, in a compelling way. The book reads like a legal drama with character development, thick descriptions, suspense, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles to overcome in the fight for race reformation in the NFL.... Duru's impeccable ability to tell a compelling non-fiction story is a highlight of this work. Former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman John Wooten . . . kicked of the campaign that led to the ending of discriminatory head-coach hiring practices. Thus the Rooney Rule was born, stipulating every team would interview at least one minority during a head-coach search. Fast forward to now. Good job, Wooten. And good job, Duru, for telling this important story. My personal journey of success would have been much more difficult if not for the sacrifices of many that blazed my trail. The Fritz Pollard Alliance created a highway for expanded opportunities for African Americans, which are chronicled in this fascinating and historic book. An incredibly interesting and enlightening read. This book should be required reading for any level of sports enthusiast, as it explains so much about the complex intersection of sport and race. Without knowing this story, you simply cannot understand the evolution of sport over the past 50 years.