New Rule to Promote Coaching Diversity

The NFL will begin a program to promote diversity in league hiring practices, including modifying a rule to allow assistant coaches on playoff teams to interview for head coaching positions.

The new rule to give more opportunities to minority candidates will go into effect immediately, the NFL said Friday.

The league’s old anti-tampering rule was criticized in 2001 when Marvin Lewis, then Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, was mentioned as a candidate for several openings but was unable to interview for them because the Ravens went to the Super Bowl. By the time the Ravens had won the NFL title, the positions had been filled.

League owners have also agreed in principle that any team seeking to hire a head coach will interview at least one minority. The exception would be when a team has already made a commitment to promote a current assistant, as the St. Louis Rams did with Mike Martz.

The league made the changes based on recommendations made by the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity.

Attorneys Johnnie Cochran Jr. and Cyrus Mehri, whose group met with NFL leaders in October, called the measures “a major step in the right direction.”

But in a statement, they said, “Implementation is the key to the success of the diverse candidate slate principle.”

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Pittsburgh Steeler punter Josh Miller had season-ending shoulder surgery and will be replaced by former Denver punter Tom Rouen.

Miller, one of the AFC’s most reliable punters, was put on injured reserve after undergoing arthroscopic surgery Friday morning.

Rouen, who was recently released by the Giants, averaged 42.5 yards, with a 32-yard net average and two blocked punts for New York.

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Jim Miller’s season officially ended when the Chicago Bears put the veteran quarterback on their crowded injured list.

Miller was bothered by tendinitis in his shoulder and elbow for much of the year, with the pain so bad he rarely practiced. He plans to have surgery in the off-season.

But it was a knee injury that ultimately cut his season short. In Chicago’s Dec. 9 loss at Miami, Miller sprained a ligament in his knee and bruised a bone, putting him on crutches for several weeks.

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Pat Tillman, a former Arizona Cardinal safety who left the NFL to join the U.S. Army, has been accepted into the service’s elite Rangers unit.

Tillman, 26, completed basic and advanced infantry training in October, became certified as an Airborne parachutist in November and graduated from the Ranger Indoctrination Program today, Army spokeswoman Carol Darby said.