NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made that a point of emphasis in his state of the league speech during Super Bowl week. So count on Goodell finding ways to more strongly implement the policy that requires teams to interview minority candidates for coaching and executive positions.
Although many Black athletes earn an opportunity to play in the NFL, there are certain barriers only a few have been able to break.
Notes, quotes and things picked up on the run from coast-to-coast and all the stops here in between and beyond.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) _ Nine games into his bid to transform the bumbling Tampa Bay Buccaneers into championship contenders, the normally unflappable Tony Dungy reached a boiling point. A 1-8 record was discouraging, but hardly the only disheartening aspect of yet another slow start for a perennial last-place franchise that suffered through 13 consecutive losing seasons before the young coach’s arrival in 1996. The soft-spoken Dungy, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, recalled walking into his office after a third consecutive loss by six or fewer points on the road and learning one