Article - December 14th, 2006
NFL gaining in minority hires
By Mark Curnutte, The Cincinnati Enquirer
In the four years since former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue formed a committee to address NFL minority hiring practices, the league Wednesday pointed to significant progress in its coaching ranks.
The NFL has more minority head coaches, coordinators and total coaches, including position coaches, than at any other time in history.
There are seven head coaches this year, compared to two at the start of the 2002 season. And the number of total minority coaches is up from 154 to 186.
"We are very pleased," prominent Washington, D.C.-based civil rights attorney Cyrus Mehri said of the league's minority hiring trends.
There were only two minority head coaches in late October 2002, when Mehri and the late Johnnie Cochran met with Tagliabue and other league officials. The meeting and threat of a lawsuit moved the former commissioner to form a 10-member committee led by Steelers chairman Dan Rooney.
The committee developed what's known as the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for job vacancies.
The Rooney Rule, Anderson said Wednesday, "has really had a positive effect. It has forced owners to open their eyes to a whole slate of minority candidates."
"Coaches did not need affirmative actions. [They] just needed a level playing field."
Mehri is counsel to the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a watchdog organization that consistently monitors and applies pressure to the NFL on minority hiring practices.