NFL's Hiring Rules: A Model For Diversity?

Like all Super Bowl coaches before them, Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy got to the Super Bowl because they are good. That they are also the first African-American coaches took something else: opportunity from the team owners who hired them.

"There are two different types of systems, in terms of hiring selection in terms of promotions. One is the tap on the shoulder, the good ole boys network. ... then there is another approach," says Cyrus Mehri, an attorney who specializes in corporate racial discrimination.

Mehri helped develop the other approach — after he and late attorney Johnnie Cochran wrote a scathing report in 2002 about National Football League hiring practices.

It's called the "Rooney Rule" — named for Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney — who helped develop the policy requiring teams to interview at least one minority candidate for every head coaching job, or, face stiff fines.

"That doesn't mean because you interview minority candidates that you have to give them a job, but I think what it does is it exposes you to everyone," says Herm Edwards, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Herm Edwards and Tony Dungy were head coaches before the Rooney Rule took effect. Lovie Smith may have benefited from it.

No NFL team will say that the Rooney Rule prompted it to hire a minority coach. But the number of black coaches since the Rooney Rule was instituted has tripled, from two to six.

Now, because of its success on the football field, many think the lessons of the Rooney Rule could be applied to all of corporate America.

"This is an idea that is working," says Mehri.

Mehri helped Coca-Cola adopt a similar approach to hiring when it faced a $192 million racial discrimination settlement.

"What we are trying to do is address an historic problem with a well thought-out, carefully crafted solution," says Mehri.

Since 2000, the number of minority senior managers at Coca-Cola jumped from 8.4 percent to 21 percent, according to DiversityInc.

And as tomorrow's game shows, having a minority coach — or executive — can be a winning formula. And that may be the best argument for diversity.