It was interesting early this week when the National Football League responded to a threat of a lawsuit by celebrity attorney Johnnie Cochran, Jr. Cochran and two colleagues released a report they say shows that black head coaches win more games but have less job security than white coaches.

Part of Cochran’s team, labor economist Dr. Janice Madden, said in the report that black coaches average 1.1 more wins per season than white coaches and get their teams into the playoffs 67 per cent of the time, compared with 39 per cent for white coaches. The report was based on statistics compiled over the past 15 years.

The report is called “Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities.” It was produced by the Washington law firm of Mehri & Skalet.

Cyrus Mehri served as counsel in race discrimination lawsuits against Texaco and Coca-Cola, which were two of the biggest race discrimination cases in legal history. He said there seems to be a lack of patience with black coaches, “One bad year and you’re out.”

The day after the report was released, the NFL defended itself by pointing out steps it has taken to increase hiring of minorities, while at the same time admitting that there still is room for improvement.

Spokesman Greg Aiello pointed out that in the last five years, 23 black men have been interviewed for coaching positions. Three of them were hired. Two still are head coaches, Tony Dungy of Indianapolis and Herman Edwards of the New York Jets.

A pair of Associated Press articles on the controversy point out that 28 percent of the assistant coaches in the league are black and twelve of them are coordinators.

Aiello noted that black coaches have had leadership roles in the NFL. Dennis Green was co-chair of the competition committee a year ago and Dungy heads the coaches’ subcommittee.

He also said there are more black coaches in the pipeline. The league has an internship program aimed at getting minorities onto coaching staffs.

Cochran has proposed what he sees as a fairer method. He wants commissioner Paul Tagliabue to give an extra first round pick to at least one team a year for development of diversity in its front office.

He also wants the league to require team owners to include diverse racial groups when interviewing candidates. Cochran suggested owners could refuse to use a racially diverse pool of candidates but would have to give up a first round pick if hiring a head coach or a third round pick if interviewing for an assistant or coordinator.

I keep looking at the statistic noted above from Dr. Madden. Black coached teams get to the playoffs 67 per cent of the time. White-coached teams get to the playoffs 39 percent of the time.

Somehow those numbers don’t add up.

Cochran says he doesn’t want to be a bully or make money on the issue, (yeah, right). He just wants to correct a great inequity.

Johnnie, saw you in the movie “Showtime” the other night. Keep the day job.

Also have to say that I would be a lot more likely to listen to the arguments if they were coming from someone other than Johnnie Cochran, Jr.

Trouble is, he might be right.