If tonight's game against Miami marks the beginning of the final season for Steelers coach Bill Cowher, one of the prime jobs in sports will need to be filled early next year.

Perhaps, as speculation has suggested, offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is the heir apparent and best choice. Or maybe assistant head coach and offensive line coach Russ Grimm will step up to replace Cowher.

But it won't be as simple as promoting Whisenhunt or Grimm.

Since the previous time the Steelers hired a head coach, the NFL has made diversity a priority.

It would be a little difficult for the Steelers to circumvent the NFL's hiring policy aimed at promoting diversity. Not when there's something called the Rooney Rule, named after Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who served as chairman of the committee that was charged with investigating diversity.

Teams are subject to a fine if they don't interview at least one minority candidate before they choose a new head coach.

"That makes it kind of an interesting situation, doesn't it?" Byron Perkins, the newest voice on the matter, said of a possible turnover with the Steelers.

Perkins is a managing partner of the Cochran Firm in Birmingham, Ala. That would be the late Johnnie Cochran, of O.J. Simpson's defense team. Just after the Super Bowl, Perkins became co-counsel to the Fritz Pollard Alliance.

The FPA promotes diversity and opportunity in the NFL in several areas, including coaching, scouting and the front office.

Perkins likes the Rooney Rule -- even though it is most assuredly a form of legislated tokenism that, at times, has seen the same black assistants make the rounds of interviews simply so teams can remain in compliance.

"I think every time a coach goes through the interview process and meets one on one with an owner or a different set of owners, that helps," Perkins said. "I'm sure the owners communicate with each other. So even if someone doesn't get one job, I think it's better for him to take the interview because it might help him get another job."

Whether it's the Rooney Rule or a coincidence or fallout from 2003 when Detroit got fined for neglecting to interview minority candidates (the Lions said black prospects declined because everyone from the Atlantic to the Pacific knew they wanted Steve Mariucci), something is working.

Of the 32 NFL teams, seven have black head coaches: Marvin Lewis with Cincinnati, Romeo Crennel with Cleveland, Tony Dungy with Indianapolis, Herman Edwards with Kansas City, Art Shell with Oakland, Lovie Smith with Chicago and Dennis Green with Arizona.

That's nearly 22 percent. There has never been a higher percent of black head coaches in the league.

"I think overall the league is doing a great job -- no, a good job, I'll say," Perkins said.

While the interview process might be quota-driven, in general the job done by black coaches who do get hired blows racism all to heck.

A 2002 study backed by Cochran and civil rights attorney Cyrus Mehri showed that while 70 percent of NFL players were black, only 6 percent of head coaches and 28 percent of assistants were. Yet the five black head coaches form 1986-2001 (Green, Shell, Dungy, Edwards and Ray Rhodes) averaged 1.1 wins more per season than their white counterparts.

It was that study that led to the formation of the FPA.

Before anyone gets red all over from the black-and-white issue, the study results do not indicate that black coaches are better than white coaches.

We only know this: Good coaches are better than bad coaches, and skin color doesn't separate the good from the bad.

What's left is opportunity, and the NFL is inching forward -- especially compared with, say, the pitiful record in NCAA football, where there are just five black head coaches among the 119 Division I-A programs.

As the 2006 NFL season unfolds, keep an eye out for rising black assistant coaches, or even successful black head coaches. If Cowher does decide to pack his jaw and retire to North Carolina, there will be an avalanche of interest in the job, and the Rooney family can be expected to compile a list of candidates with at least some diversity.

"I think football and other sports are sort of reflective of our nation's values, and while I had hoped we would be past race being an issue by now, we're not," Perkins said. "So I think this needs to remain a cooperative effort."

While diversity and balance among coaches still needs to be monitored, Perkins already has identified his next area of concern for the NFL.

"We need to look at the number of black agents representing athletes," he said.

Another interesting topic, but one for another day.