The Cleveland Browns’ GM hiring process is not sitting well with some.
The Browns on Thursday announced the hiring of John Dorsey as the team’s new GM. The announcement came the same day the team fired Sashi Brown.
The swiftness of the announcement of the new hire, and the people who were — or in this case, weren’t — interviewed for the job, is an issue for some. John Wooten, the chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, says he is “deeply bothered” by the process.
John Wooten, chairman of Fritz Pollard Alliance, is concerned about Browns’ hiring process. “I’m deeply bothered by it,” Wooten said. “I’ll be talking to the league about it because it bothers me. It doesn’t seem right. Why wouldn’t you interview one of the recommended people?”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 8, 2017
The Fritz Pollard Alliance’s mission is to “promote diversity and equality of job opportunity in the coaching, front office and scouting staffs of National Football League.” Each year they submit a list of recommended African-American candidates for various NFL jobs, such as front office positions like this one. It sounds like the Browns ignored their recommendation.
The Browns reportedly have been working on this search for more than just a day, and they say they satisfied the Rooney Rule — potentially when they interviewed Mike Singletary last month. Perhaps the Browns could have avoided some of this negative attention had they given it more time between the announcement of the firing and hiring.
