The Rooney Rule could go down as the second-most influential move ever when it comes to impacting diversity in sports. Second to the Brooklyn Dodgers signing Jackie Robinson, of course.

The NFL mandate requiring GMs to interview at least one non-white candidate for head-coaching vacancies has been so effective that hiring a black head coach is no longer news. (At least not in the NFL; in college sports it still inspires cries of "Hallelujah.")

The league is considering expanding the rule to include GM vacancies. (Jerry Reese of the New York Giants, above, and the Detroit Lions' Martin Mayhew, below, are two of the NFL's three African-American GMs. Ozzie Newsome of the Baltimore Ravens is the other.) Essentially, owners will be holding themselves accountable.

As they should.

Why stop there? The rule should be expanded to all openings – from radio and television announcers to team doctors to marketing, sales and finance positions.

The disintegration of color barriers and misconceptions in sports rightfully began on and around the field. Players and coaches are the most visible participants, and most highly paid. Opening those positions to all was not only right but it was vital to the long-term viability and credibility of all sports.

But I've long been troubled by the reality that no matter how wide the net is cast for athletes and coaches, it still reaches only a very small, elite group of men. Yes, men. Every young man in America is told they stand a better chance of becoming a physicist than playing professional sports. Yet ask them what they want to be when they grow up and almost every one of them (including my own son) will say, "Play pro ball."

The better reality is that there are myriad jobs in pro sports, ones to which almost any kid (boy or girl) can aspire. Jobs in accounting, ticket sales, arena management, training, public relations and on and on.

The league is doing pretty well, actually, when it comes to race. Last summer, it received a B+ on racial hiring practices among top team management, administration, physicians, head trainers, and broadcasters on the annual Racial and Gender Report produced by Dr. Richard Lapchick at the University of Central Florida.

That was despite the fact that the NFL did not provide Lapchick with data for the survey – it was the only pro sports league not to do so – nor did it corroborate data gathered and submitted by UCF prior to publication. With insufficient data, the league was issued an I (Incomplete) in gender hiring. In 2004, the last time it received a grade on gender hiring, the league received a D+. "The record of NFL teams regarding the hiring of women remained poor," the report said, "especially compared to the significant progress on race."

Sticking its chest out about the Rooney Rule yet not participating in the most credible measurement of race and gender hiring in sports is, frankly, hypocritical. That must change.

Subsequently, expanding the Rooney Rule to include all positions would not only allow the NFL to add women to the interview process, it would also send a critical signal to young men and women nationwide who are aspiring to "play pro ball" that they can do so without having to be an elite athlete.

Photos by NY Daily News and AP