The practice will apply to any team seeking to hire a coordinator but with its head coach already in place. It will not apply to a team with an incoming head coach needing to fill out a new coaching staff, Wooten said.

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“That wouldn’t be fair,” Wooten said in a phone interview. “I tell guys all the time that when you go in and interview [for a head coaching job], you should have your staff already together. But if there’s a situation where the head coach is already there, that’s when it would apply as a best practice.”

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The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to Wooten, Goodell said he will instruct owners that any team in such a circumstance should interview at least one minority candidate for a coordinator opening. Teams would not face penalties for violating the practice with a coordinator vacancy. Wooten said he did not press the league at this point for a formal rule with penalties attached because teams generally have been following the guideline already.

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“It has already been happening,” Wooten said. “That’s the way it has been going. That’s the reason I don’t have to push too hard on that. That’s why we called it a best practice. They seem very open to it. The commissioner said he had no problem talking to the owners about it. He said next year we should meet before the December owners’ meeting because this year they’ve already had it and that was something he could have addressed then.”

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The new approach will take effect immediately for this hiring cycle, Wooten said.

“This will be something new,” he said. “We haven’t done this before. I think you will see that happen right away.”

The Fritz Pollard Alliance in the past has said it is important for the minority interviewing guideline to apply to coordinator vacancies in part because landing those jobs leads to future consideration for head coaching positions.

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A year ago, five of the seven head coaching vacancies league-wide were filled by offensive coordinators. The New York Giants promoted their offensive coordinator, Ben McAdoo. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers promoted theirs, Dirk Koetter. The Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins hired offensive coordinators from other teams, the Eagles with Kansas City’s Doug Pederson, the Browns with Cincinnati’s Hue Jackson and the Dolphins with Chicago’s Adam Gase.

Jackson was the only minority coach among the seven new head coaches hired league-wide before this season.