During the Broncos’ game against the Bengals, as if to show up Cincinnati cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, Mother Nature made it rain, all right.
Amid this Monday night monsoon Dec. 22, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning threw four interceptions, including a late-game pick-six by cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick. It was one of the most dismal showings of Manning’s Denver career, but this rainy night helped grow the reputation of a certain Cincinnati assistant coach.
Vance Joseph is in charge of the Bengals’ secondary, and less than a month later, he was considered a hot coaching commodity by several NFL teams.
No, he has never been a defensive coordinator — that seat can sometimes do something to a man — but Joseph makes sense as Denver’s defensive coordinator, and it would be an important hire as well. In their history, the Broncos have had only one African-American coordinator on offense or defense. That was Ray Rhodes, the defensive coordinator from 2001-02.
Now, Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby spoke for a lot of fans Monday when he texted me: “To me, (race) doesn’t matter as long as he is a great coach. (That) is the most important factor.”
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But there is this notion, by some, that the Broncos’ coaching hires are beginning to resemble an ol’ boys club, with John Elway bringing aboard friends Gary Kubiak and Rick Dennison. The hiring of Joseph as a coordinator would, yes, give Denver a talented rising assistant who has worked with Kubiak in the past. But it also sends a quiet message that — hey, the Broncos aren’t that far behind the curve.
Yes, after Josh McDisaster, the Broncos made African-American assistant coach Eric Studesville their interim head coach. But for a proud franchise, the number of African-Americans in boss roles on the coaching staff is disappointing.
Joseph, 42, has some fun local ties — he played quarterback and cornerback at Colorado in the early 1990s. His began his NFL coaching career in 2005, and he has worked for coaches such as Mike Singletary in San Francisco, Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati and, yep, Kubiak in Houston, from 2011-13. The 2014 Bengals secondary was one of the NFL’s best at preventing long touchdown passes. , the Bengals were one of five teams to allow three or fewer touchdown passes that traveled at least 20 yards in the air.
Assuming Kubiak hires Joseph, it makes even more sense that Denver previously interviewed a secondary coach for its head coaching position. Yes, the Broncos respected the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which states that a team must interview at least one minority for its open head coaching position. But it was understood around the NFL that Kubiak would get the Broncos job if he wanted it. But Elway satisfied the Rooney Rule and, essentially, got a free interview with Kubiak’s possible choice for defensive coordinator.
The Rooney Rule is important. Keep it. But let’s be honest: Clearly there are times where it serves as more of a roadblock or façade than a fair shake for minority coaches. There are instances, such as Kubiak here or John Fox in Chicago, in which an NFL team is essentially all in on one guy the whole time. Teryl Austin, the talented Detroit Lions coordinator and an African-American, turned down his scheduled interview with Denver, presumably because he knew Kubiak would get the head coaching gig.
Still, the Rooney Rule helps get minority coaches in the door and surely helped advance numerous successful head coaches who, maybe, would have been overlooked otherwise. The Rooney Rule remains the NFL’s best shot at leveling the playing field, if you will, for minority coaches. And as we know here in Denver, even in 2015, some NFL franchises have been lacking in regard to African-American coaches and coordinators.
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or
