The National Football League has come under scrutiny recently because of the lack of blacks being hired as head coaches.

Threatened with a lawsuit by attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. and a few of his buddies, the league has now had to step forward to defend and explain its actions.

I figured I could save them a little time by giving my thoughts about the subject, and instead let them concentrate on explaining to me why in fantasy football, Randy Moss is about as effective as the University of Iowa’s disciplinary program for their athletes in trouble with the law (“That beer wasn’t mine, it just danced over to my table and winked at me”).

Cochran said “black coaches are being held to a higher standard” and that “it is time for the NFL to step up and make a change.”

A higher standard of what, I ask?

All coaches are judged on their ability to win games.

It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white or have an orange face and a passion for making chocolate.

Dennis Green, last year’s coach of the Vikings, had one of the longest running tenures in the NFL.

The reason he stayed at the helm of the Norsemen’s ship was that he won.

And the reason he was fired was because he lost.

In Green’s last year with the Vikings, he went 5-11 and had his team primed for the “biggest disappointment in football” award.

It was time to make a change.

With Green’s firing, the NFL now has only two black coaches: Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Herman Edwards of the New York Jets.

And while there are more white coaches than black coaches, there are racial discrepancies everywhere.

There are never any lawsuits filed about there being too many black NBA players as opposed to white players, or why the majority of NFL players are black as well.

That is because the best player is taken at each position, regardless of color.

If the NBA decided it needed to equal out its color ratio, then we would get a lot more Jon Koncaks and Chris Dudleys, and a lot less Tracy McGradys and Allen Iversons.

The idea of hiring a coach solely because he is black is like choosing baked beans as your favorite food; it just doesn’t make sense.

Instead, pick the guy who is the most qualified and who gives the team the best chance to win.

In 1980, there were 14 black assistants in the NFL.

Now, 154 of 547 assistants are black (28 percent).

You can see that the numbers of assistants keep climbing, and soon enough, the number of head coaches will too.

To stimulate the number of black coaches being hired, Cochran proposed to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue that he should “reward at least one team each year for developing a diverse front office” with a draft pick.

Hmmm, let me get this straight.

So, if I get an Asian-American, African-American, and Native American up in my office I will get another draft pick?

Yeah, Johnnie.

Let’s reward teams that hire different nationalities and who cares about the type of football they play.

Great idea!

For the sake of Jon Koncak wannabes everywhere, hire the guy who is the most qualified for the job.

It’s that simple.

Zac Reicks

is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Lawler.