The Associated Press

NEW YORK - The NFL will begin a program to promote diversity in league hiring practices, including modifying a rule to allow assistant coaches on playoff teams to interview for head coaching positions.

The new rule to give more opportunities to minority candidates will go into effect immediately, the NFL said Friday.

The league's old anti-tampering rule was criticized in 2001 when Marvin Lewis, then Baltimore's defensive coordinator, was mentioned as a candidate for several openings but was unable to interview for them because the Ravens went to the Super Bowl. By the time the Ravens had won the NFL title, the positions had been filled.

League owners have also agreed in principle that any team seeking to hire a head coach will interview at least one minority. The exception would be when a team has already made a commitment to promote a current assistant, as the St. Louis Rams did with Mike Martz.

The league made the changes based on recommendations made by the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity.

Attorneys Johnnie Cochran, Jr. and Cyrus Mehri, whose group met with NFL leaders in October, called the measures "a major step in the right direction."

But in a statement, they said, "Implementation is the key to the success of the diverse candidate slate principle."

The NFL committee "must also turn to fair competition in the front office," they said. "We remain particularly troubled by the fact that so many owners have never even interviewed, let alone hired, a minority candidate for a position of authority in the front offices."

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