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Our students in the DeVos Sports Business Management Graduate Program at the University of Central Florida were in the NFL league office two weeks ago. Leading off in an array of leaders from various departments to meet the students, commissioner Roger Goodell spent considerable time answering questions. He started by saying, I met Richard Lapchick approximately 30 years ago when we were discussing diversity.Three decades later we are still discussing it by issuing the National Football League Racial and Gender Report Cards (RGRC), as well as reports on all the other professional leagues, colleges and universities, and the media. We issued the 2016 NFL RGRC on Wednesday. I was the primary author of the report with co-authors Craig Malveaux, Erin Davison and Caryn Grant.In previous administrations with commissioners Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue, progress was slow. Grades for racial and gender hiring practices stagnated while much attention was paid to the critical positions of head coach and general manager -- positions rare for African-Americans to hold. In fact, it was not until 1989 that the NFL had an African-American head coach in the modern era with the Raiders hiring of Art Shell. It was another 13 years in 2002 before the Ravens made Ozzie Newsome the first African-American GM.I was approached by civil rights attorney Cyrus Mehri who was working with Johnnie Cochran to present a study on how bad the NFL hiring record was. I told Cyrus that publishing another study would not have as much meaning as threatening legal action against the NFL. He agreed and a news release to that effect was sent out before a meeting with the league.On Oct. 23, 2002, Cyrus and I went to the NFL office to meet with senior leaders Jeff Pash, the NFLs in-house counsel, and executive vice president Harold Henderson, the highest-ranking minority executive in the league and someone I considered a friend. Commissioner Tagliabue did not attend. At the time of the meeting, there were only two African-American head coaches: Tony Dungy in Indianapolis and his former assistant, Herman Edwards, with the New York Jets.It was, as we would have guessed, a chilly reception but seemed somewhat productive. The lawsuit was taken off the table to see what the NFL would do. The meeting received significant media coverage. The Rooney Rule, which required a diverse pool of candidates for head coaching jobs, was adopted a few months after the meeting. It was inspired by Steelers owner Dan Rooney and quickly led to significant changes. Since then, Mike Tomlin helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to Super Bowl XLV in 2011, their second Super Bowl appearance in his tenure. In doing so, he became the first African-American head coach to lead a team to two Super Bowls. In 2010, Jim Caldwell helped lead the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl in his first season as head coach. The Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears faced off in the 2007 Super Bowl with two African-Americans, Dungy and Lovie Smith, leading their respective teams. It was the first time this had happened in the NFL. Sometime later the NFL informed me that they would no longer cooperate with providing data for the Racial and Gender Report Card. Thus in subsequent years we could not include the league office because we did not have the data and focused only on the record of the teams. With no league office data, we did not have enough information to issue a grade for gender. I had no communication with the NFL in spite of several attempts to reopen lines of communication. In the meantime, attorney Mehri worked with the NFL to make progress.I will always remember taking a call from commissioner Goodell shortly after he took office. He said he wanted to discuss with me, as he was doing with others, his view on forming a consistent and rigorous policy on player behavior. I was glad that the line seemed open and asked for a meeting in his office, which followed soon thereafter. We discussed diversity at length. He enthusiastically told me that the NFL just hired a Senior Vice President named Robert Gulliver who would head up human resources and focus on diversity. In addition, the NFL resumed cooperation with the Racial and Gender Report Card.When Gulliver took over, the grades were still poor. But gradually the grade for racial hiring practices increased to the point where they have now received seven consecutive grades in the A range for racial hiring practices.Historically, the grades for gender hiring lagged behind to the point where the NFL even got a D-plus in this category in 2004, which was the last grade for gender after the NFL stopped providing league data. The grade resumed in 2009 when cooperation resumed. Starting in 2009 until 2015 it received a series of Cs with grades between 69 and 74 points out of 100.After the Ray Rice story broke in 2014, the NFL came under great scrutiny for policies on gender violence perpetrated by players. That created a spotlight on the low number of senior women working in the league office and on teams. I believed that if there were senior women on board to advise the commissioner, then the story might have taken the NFL on a different and more proactive path on the issue of gender violence.In the Report Card issued the year before the Rice story, the NFL had 69 points for gender. Redoubling their efforts and hiring women at senior leadership positions in the NFL and, to some degree on teams, the NFL jumped a stunning six points to 75 in 2015. In the newly released 2016 Report, it increased to 76 points for another C-plus on gender hiring practices.In the league office, the number of women and people of color at or above the vice president level continued to increase. In 2014, there were 14 people of color at or above the VP level. In 2015, there were 21 and in 2016, that number jumped to 24 people of color. Similarly, the number of women at or above the VP level increased from 31 to 35 in 2016.Just as the commissioner pointed out the hiring of Gulliver several years ago, he told me and the students that Cathy Lanier was named the NFLs new Senior Vice President of Security. Lanier had served as the Chief of Police for the Metropolitan Police Department for the District of Columbia for 10 years.While C-plus is not great, it does represent progress. The A grade for race is an overall look at all positions across the league office and the teams where progress is strong and is modeled by the league office and the commissioner. There are areas of concern in the NFL with only six head coaches of color. That leaves it two below the NFLs all-time high of eight. Only two of the 14 most recent openings have been filled by a person of color. Twenty-one of the 22 first-time hires between 2012-2016 were white. According to an ESPN story, 94 percent of head coaches hired over the past 20 years (133 of 141) had been NFL coordinators, pro head coaches (including interim) or college head coaches previously. Unfortunately for aspiring coaches of color, those jobs are overwhelmingly held by whites. There is no Rooney Rule for coordinators or college coaches. Since 2007, I have been urging the adoption of an Eddie Robinson Rule named after the iconic Grambling coach and patterned after the Rooney Rule. We also need a Rooney Rule for coordinators.In the new NFL RGRC, the percentage of assistant coaches of color had a very sharp drop from 37.9 percent in 2015 to 31.9 percent in the 2016 season. The number of GMs of color dropped from seven in 2015 to five in 2016. Those figures demand serious attention and the teams need to follow the modeling of the NFL league office.As commissioner Goodell told the DeVos students, Richard and I have disagreed on things. From the discussion about race in the 1980s when few were talking about it, to the progress in his 10 years as commissioner, it is clear that his interest in diversity and inclusion has led to significant progress in this area. While he is often criticized for other things -- as he said we disagree on things -- on these issues commissioner Goodell deserves the credit that I am suggesting here.Richard E. Lapchick is the Chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida. Lapchick also directs UCFs Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, is the author of 16 books and the annual Racial and Gender Report Card, and is the President of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport. He has been a regular commentator for ESPN.com on issues of diversity in sport. Follow him on Twitter @richardlapchick and on Facebook at facebook.com/richard.lapchick. Nike Air Max 270 React Discount .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Air Max 270 White Cheap . Louis Blues absence from top spot in the TSN. http://www.max270cheap.com/air-max-270-just-do-it-sale.html . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Nike Air Max 270 React Electro Green . "I was fortunate to play many years at this level with a great organization and unbelievable teammates," said Hejduk in a statement. Cheap Nike Air Max 270 China . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents.Sheriff Principal Edward Bowen has been appointed by the SFA to chair the independent commission into the events following the Scottish Cup final. Thousands of Hibernian fans swarmed on to the Hampden Park pitch after their side won 3-2 against Rangers with a late goal from skipper David Gray.A number of Rangers players were attacked, with some of those requiring medical attention, while there were also clashes between rival fans after some Rangers supporters invaded the pitch. The announcement of Bowens appointment was made to the members of the Scottish FA at its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday morning.Bowen will establish the commission immediately with the remit to provide a report into the security and risk management procedures deployed in regard to the pitch incursions at full-time. Police horses were required to restore order at Hampden Park The governing body voted through seven resolutions at the AGM - which allow the SFA to improve its measure of control in several areas - at a meeting attended by Scottish Parliament Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson.SFA president Alan McRae said: I would like to thank the members for voting through the seven resolutions put before them, which enables the Scottish FA to improve its procedures in a number of areas, reflecting modern corporate governance practices.I am delighted we have also appointed Sheriff Principal Bowen CBE QC and we look forward to seeing his report into the cup final in early course. Police line the pitch at full-time after a fan invasion Finally, I would like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson, for taking time to address our members in light of the events at the end of the cup final.The Scottish FA has an excellent working relationship with the government and we will continue our collective efforts to implement robust procedures to ensure no repeat of the unacceptable conduct at what should have been the showpieece occasion of the Scottish season.ddddddddddddFollowing the meeting, Matheson said the Scottish Government will get tough if the SFA is unable to deal with the issues. Hibernian head coach Alan Stubbs described the scenes of the pitch invasion at Hampden Park as regrettable Matheson said: The scenes we saw at Hampden last week were appalling and the Scottish Government condemns in the strongest possible terms the disorder and violence which scarred the end of the game.But from those dreadful scenes there is an opportunity to address some of the negative long-standing issues in the game and I want football to be proactive and seize that opportunity.I hope football can rise to this challenge and finally address this issue, and the Scottish Government is ready to work together constructively on this. I am encouraged by the initial response, but let me be absolutely clear: the Scottish Government is prepared to act if Scottish football isnt. On that basis we will explore alternative options if no solution can be delivered by football. However, I genuinely hope that this is not needed and Scottish football takes control of its own destiny. Also See: Hibernian take action Hampden inquiry team set up SFA to review fan violence Hibs condemn fan disorder ' ' '