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A study of 2016 NFL coaching staffs shows that white coaches overwhelmingly fill the offensive positions associated with advancement to the head-coaching ranks, compromising the Rooney Rules efforts to reverse a recent trend.Eighty of the NFLs current 85 offensive coordinators, quarterbacks coaches and offensive-quality-control coaches are white, including all 37 with the word quarterback in their job descriptions. Minorities comprise one-third of NFL coaches overall, but they dominate positions less associated with advancement. This revelation comes after NFL teams hired 21 first-time white head coaches and one first-time minority head coach (Todd Bowles by the Jets) since 2012, a period of five hiring cycles.The good thing about the Rooney Rule was not that you had to interview a minority candidate but that it slowed the process down and made you do some research, former NFL head coach Tony Dungy said. But now it seems like in the last few years, people havent really done what the rule was designed for. It has become, Just let me talk to a couple minority coaches very quickly so I can go about the business of hiring the person I really want to hire anyway.The study of coaching staffs focused on football coaches, not coaches whose primary duties included strength, conditioning, performance or research. Using these criteria, the Carolina Panthers, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers have the only staffs with at least 50 percent minorities, counting head coaches.Dungy lauded the Steelers in particular for dedicating the time and resources necessary to research the head-coaching candidates who fit their organization. The Rooney Rule, named for Steelers owner Dan Rooney, was adopted in 2003 and required teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head-coaching vacancies.Too frequently, we dont look at leadership, we dont look at getting the most out of people, we dont look at bringing people together and staffs together -- all those things that you need to be a head coach, Dungy said. It is an inexact science. It is done in an inexact way. Look how long it took Bruce Arians to get a head-coaching job; it is not just with minorities.But I think when you are a minority coach, you have even that added burden, or added handicap of not always being highly publicized. For owners who do not know what they are looking for, it is much easier to say, Well, Ill take Candidate A because at least everybody knows him and everybody will say this is a good hire.Said a minority coach, Everybody will tell you, it is a damn game to try to get with these owners and figure out what they want. Sometimes they want what the fans want or the media wants -- an offensive guy or maybe an experienced guy, which rules out a lot of candidates, especially minority candidates. We dont care as long as it is even. But when there are different standards applied, then that doesnt sit well. It is part of our reality, but it doesnt sit well.Cheap Vapormax Shoes NZ .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Discount Vapormax NZ Online . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. http://www.discountvapormaxnz.com/ . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Wholesale Shoes NZ . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Wholesale Vapormax NZ . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization.OLYMPICSBUDAPEST, Hungary -- Eleven weightlifters, including three Russian medalists, have tested positive for banned drugs in the latest retests of samples from the 2012 London Olympics, the International Weightlifting Federation said.The IWF said in a statement that all 11 athletes, six of whom were medalists, had been provisionally suspended until their cases are closed.Four of the 11 are Russians, who all tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, an anabolic steroid.The positive Russian tests came from Alexandr Ivanov, silver medalist in the mens 94-kilogram division; Nataliya Zabolotnaya, silver in the womens 75-kilogram division; Svetlana Tzarukaeva, silver in the womens 63-kilogram division; and Andrey Demanov, who placed fourth in the mens 94-kilogram division. Ivanov also tested positive for tamoxifen, a hormone modulator.MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at discrimination against the countrys banned track and field athletes at a Kremlin send-off ceremony for its depleted Olympic team.Fencers, triathletes and table tennis players became the latest team of Russians to be cleared to compete in the Olympics by the governing bodies of their sports ahead of the Moscow ceremony, but the IAAF rejected a bid by the bulk of the track and field team to be reinstated.More than 100 Russians from the 387-strong Olympic team have been banned so far from going to Rio de Janeiro.Putin said the athletes banned from the Olympics were victims of a campaign to present Russian sports in a bad light. He spoke with two-time Olympic pole-vaulting champion Yelena Isinbayeva, the most high-profile of the 67 track and field athletes banned from the games, standing beside him.PRO BASKETBALLNEW YORK -- The National Basketball Players Associations player representatives have voted unanimously to fund health insurance for all retired NBA players with at least three years of service.The game has never before been more popular, and all the players in our league today recognize that were only in this position because of the hard work and dedication of the men who came before us, Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul, the union president, said in a statement. Its important that we take care of our entire extended NBA family, and Im proud of my fellow players for taking this unprecedented step to ensure the health and well-being of our predecessors.The June 26 vote in New York established a health insurance program through UnitedHealthcare. Under the current proposal, for example, retired players with between three and six years of NBA service time, but who are not yet eligible for Medicare, would be offered a plan that includes medical, hospital and prescription drug coverage with modest out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and co-pays.PRO FOOTBALLNEW YORK -- A person familiar with the negotiations says the New York Jets have re-signed Ryan Fitzpatrick to a one-year deal worth $12 million, ending months of speculation and uncertainty surrounding the teams quarterback spot.Fitzpatrick set the franchise record with a career-high 31 touchdown passes last season while helping lead the Jets on a playoff push in Todd Bowles first season as coach.The person who spoke on condition of anonymity because tthe team had not announced the signing.ddddddddddddThe well-traveled 33-year-old veteran appeared to be a certainty to re-sign in the weeks leading to the start of free agency, but Fitzpatrick and the Jets became locked in a contract stalemate over financial terms.UNDATED -- Tom Coughlin will be joining the NFLs football operations staff, a person with knowledge of the agreement tells The Associated Press.The two-time Super Bowl-winning coach will work closely with Troy Vincent and with the NFLs game-related committees in an advisory role.The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the NFL has not yet announced the hiring.Coughlin won 170 games in his 20 years as an NFL head coach, including the 2007 and 2011 league championships when the Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowls. He also was the original coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and got them into the playoffs in 1996, their second season. He left the Giants after they went 6-10 in 2015, their fourth straight season out of the playoffs.Considered an offensive mastermind, Coughlin sought several coaching jobs last offseason, but didnt take any.COLLEGE FOOTBALLEAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan States athletic department is establishing a scholarship fund to honor Mike Sadler, the former Spartans punter who died in a car accident Saturday in Wisconsin.Sadler and Nebraska punter Sam Foltz died in a crash after attending a kicking camp in Wisconsin.The Mike Sadler Legacy Football Scholarship Fund will enable a Michigan State football player to receive a scholarship each year in his honor.Sadler was a four-year starter and four-time academic All-American at Michigan State. He finished his college career after the 2014 season.Michigan State is holding an event to celebrate Sadlers life Sunday at Spartan Stadium. It is open to the public.PRO HOCKEYST. PAUL, Minn. -- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmans reluctance to link hits to the head in hockey with a degenerative brain disease found in several deceased former players has reached Congress.League attorneys filed Bettmans letter to Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal with U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson, whos presiding over the concussion lawsuit against the NHL. Bettmans 24-page response to Blumenthal was dated Friday. He said research on the link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy remains nascent.The Connecticut Democrat wrote June 23 to Bettman about the leagues stance on CTE.He cited in his letter the discovery of CTE in the brains of six former players after their deaths in recent years. Blumenthal is the ranking member of the Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety, insurance and data security.BASEBALLMIAMI -- MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says more rule changes are needed to improve the pace of play, and one proposal under consideration is a limitation on relief pitching changes in an inning or a game.The majors shaved several minutes off the average game time last season, but games have been slightly longer in 2016.Manfred has said hes in favor of a limitation on relief pitchers but didnt lobby for it Wednesday. ' ' '