The "Roony Rule"

[Pogues]

I think teams keep hiring the same coaches in part for the same reasons that movie studios keep making sequels...fear of sticking their necks out by doing something new and different. If you hire a guys who has coached a couple of other teams and he craps out, it doesn't look so bad for you. If you give a guy his first chance at the helm and he craps out, then you open yourself to massive criticism and possibly a pink slip. So they keep circulating the same guys round and round, when there are probably 50 guys who could do better just waiting for their shot.

But do teams really keep hiring re-treads, or is that just the perception we have?

And it's not always bad hiring a coach with head coaching experience. Sometimes your guy had a good run with a team, but for whatever reason things fell apart. Coaches like Andy Reid, who is now having success in KC.

[Silentmist]

I thought the Steelers said that had the Rooney Rule not been in place they would not have interviewed Mike Tomlin. Once they interviewed him, they knew he was their guy.

That's the kind of stuff I was looking for. Good to see that it worked at least once.

[Lucky]

But do teams really keep hiring re-treads, or is that just the perception we have?

And it's not always bad hiring a coach with head coaching experience. Sometimes your guy had a good run with a team, but for whatever reason things fell apart. Coaches like Andy Reid, who is now having success in KC.

I don't know, but I'm looking for some good source material. In the meantime, I have this from Forbes: 20 coaches who made the playoffs since 2000 have been re-hired into a different NFL head coaching gig.

That doesn't show "over and over", but it hints at the old adage from baseball...if you have one good year, you can fool them for five more.

[Silentmist]

Mike Socia has been fooling the Angels for almost two decades. That one win has kept him from being fired for the last 14 years.