Here at the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState, we’ve noticed the NFL is fiercely determined to succeed despite itself. People love the game of football, and thus far, regardless of whichever wokeness flavor the NFL throws out there, the fan base remains substantial. You don’t have to like it, but it won’t disappear if you ignore it.

With this duly noted, the recent rules changes regarding minority coach hiring are worthy of attention if for no other reason than the opportunity provided for discussing with others the difference between conservative and liberal thinking. In a nutshell, the league has mandated all teams have at least one minority in their offensive coaching ranks. And not for show, either.

The coach can be “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority,” according to the policy adopted by NFL owners during their annual meeting, and will be paid from a league-wide fund. The coach must work closely with the head coach and the offensive staff, with the goal of increasing minority participation in the pool of offensive coaches that eventually produces the most sought-after candidates for head-coaching positions.

Ironically, the move comes when minority participation in assistant coaching ranks is on the rise.

A league-record 15 minorities are among the NFL’s defensive coordinators for 2022, according to league data. Overall, minority coaches now make up 39% of the league total, up from 35% in 2021. There are also a league-record 12 women on coaching staffs.

So, the NFL is mandating minority hiring when it is naturally growing. In other news, when last we saw the farmer, he was waving bye-bye to his favorite horse as it galloped off into the sunset while the farmer locked the barn door.

While some teams may appear to adhere to lovable loser mode, every team in the NFL wants to win. Winning puts fans in the seats. Winning sells luxury suites. Winning generates merchandise sales. Even clown car caravans like the Washington Redskins Commanders want to win. Whether they have the slightest idea how to do so is another matter, but the desire is there.

The team pursuing success, which as mentioned above is every single team, goes into the coach hiring process seeing but one color, said color being green. In NFL teams’ upper echelons, there are doubtless descendants of the Western pioneers Jim described to Bart:

But by and large, it is solely money driving the train.

Now, let’s look at basketball for a couple of examples. Quick, name the team with the best record in the NBA. It’s the Phoenix Suns. Now name the Suns coach. It’s Monty Williams. The Suns hired Williams in May of 2019. There are currently 20 NBA head coaches with shorter tenures in their current position than Williams. You don’t think those 20 teams have looked at how Williams has gotten the best out of Devin Booker and company while working his personal and professional relationship with Chris Paul to recruit him to Phoenix and muttered to themselves?

Now, a look at this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Aside from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski looking to win a sixth championship in this, his final year before retirement, what has been the story? The St. Peter’s Peacocks improbable run to the Elite Eight proves that a well-coached and fundamentally sound team of no-names can compete with the high flying squads that are home for the one-and-done filled rosters. Now name the St. Peter’s coach. It’s Shaheen Holloway, who has parlayed his now-concluded postseason run into a sweet new gig at his alma mater Seton Hall. Don’t you think every college basketball program currently struggling to get it together isn’t wishing Holloway was coming to their school?

Skin color neither qualifies nor disqualifies someone from being a good or bad coach. Coaching is a meritocracy. It doesn’t care what color you are. It cares about your ability to master the game and lead your players simultaneously. This is reality, otherwise known as conservative thinking. It would be best if you had the right players, yes. But it also needs you to do the job. A hiring quota will not create any more head coach-caliber people than currently exist. If a team is too stupid to hire the best people available, insisting on a coaching staff with more minorities won’t change that. You can’t fix stupid. You can’t affirmative action it out of the way either.