Colleges Creating Standards To Tackle Lack Of Minority Coaches

The Division I-A AD Association is drawing up guidelines that "should improve college football's dismal minority hiring record," according to Steve Wieberg of USA TODAY. The committee said that it expects "to have the standards in place" by November, when football coaching changes begin to occur. Unlike the NFL's Rooney Rule, the ADs "won't put their directive into law." Rather, AD Association Exec Dir Dutch Baughman said schools will be "encouraged" to adhere to "specified, acceptable standards." Those standards "are likely to include the one-minority-candidate minimum." DC-based attorney Cyrus Mehri, who was "one of the Rooney Rule architects" and is working with the association on the new policy, said, "When you change the process, you will change the outcome. ... Will we see results in one to two years? No. But we will see results over a period of a few years." There are seven minority coaches in Division I-A.  Mehri said the guidelines "over time will have a ripple effect" onto other sports (USA TODAY, 10/3).