Rooney Rule Redux: D-I ADs Pass Minority Hiring Guidelines

Division-I athletic directors yesterday issued new minority hiring guidelines "that mirror the NFL's Rooney Rule," according to Steve Wieberg of USA TODAY, who calls the move "perhaps the strongest swing ever at improving college football's dismal minority hiring record." The guidelines recommend schools searching for a head coach to interview one or more minority candidates, though the new policy "doesn't carry penalties" like the five-year-old Rooney Rule. Texas-based Division I-A Athletic Directors Association Exec Dir Dutch Baughman "oversaw the five-month process of drawing up 'acceptable standards' and sent them to all 120 major football-playing schools." Baughman: "The best we can do is provide recommendations and so on and respect the fact that there's institutional prerogative" (USA TODAY, 1/16).

GOLF GOES ON: The NCAA BOD Monday "approved a new exemption" for the College All-America Golf Classic, an all-star tournament that counts Tiger Woods as a previous winner. The tournament was "jeopardized when the NCAA eliminated the committee that decides which events are exempt from a rule that limits the number of playing days for student-athletes." The tournament had previously been exempt (USA TODAY, 1/16).