Cox perceives unfair hiring at NFL

NEW ORLEANS - After 11 years of pro football, Bryan Cox knows he&#39;s closing in on the end of his playing career. He&#39;d like for the next step to be a significant management position in the NFL. <br> <br> But he isn&#39;t counting on it. <br> <br> The 33-year-old linebacker with the New England Patriots doesn&#39;t have a contract for next season. On Sunday, he&#39;ll play in his first Super Bowl - and possibly his final NFL game. <br> <br> ``I&#39;d like to play next year, but I&#39;ve got to be offered a contract,&#39;&#39; Cox said Tuesday. ``I don&#39;t know what my career will be after this game and that&#39;s enough to humble me. <br> <br> ``I&#39;d like the opportunity to be a personnel guy or coach, but I know the opportunities are not that great. This hits me in the heart and needs to be talked about. Nothing is being done; the process is so slow.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Cox is upset about what he perceives to be unfair hiring practices, where minorities don&#39;t get an equal chance when coaching and management positions open. He claims just two of every 100 front office jobs go to minorities, while 70 percent of the players in the league are black - ``and that&#39;s not a very good percentage.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``The chances are not even 90-10 for me to become a general manager or a personnel director or a head coach,&#39;&#39; he said. ``It just doesn&#39;t match the number of minorities.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> League spokesman Greg Aiello noted that Ozzie Newsome, the Ravens&#39; vice president of player personnel, was the league&#39;s 2000 Executive of the Year. When Tony Dungy was fired by the Buccaneers early in January, he almost immediately was hired to coach the Colts. <br> <br> ``This year, we had 147 black assistants (out of approximately 475 overall) and 12 black coordinators (out of 62), and that&#39;s a pipeline for future head coaches,&#39;&#39; Aiello said. <br> <br> Two black defensive coordinators, Ted Cottrell of the Jets and Marvin Lewis of the Ravens, were interviewed for head coach openings this month. Another, Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, is in the running for the Tampa Bay job that has not been filled. <br> <br> Cox, something of a wild man during his early seasons with Miami, Chicago and the Jets, regularly drawing fines, doesn&#39;t think it&#39;s nearly enough. <br> <br> ``You don&#39;t allow people to tell you what you can be or who you are,&#39;&#39; he said. ``People told me I wouldn&#39;t amount to anything, wouldn&#39;t go to college, would be in jail by the time I was 20. And I&#39;ve played 11 years in the NFL.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> He&#39;d like more. <br> <br> ``Give me a meaningful job,&#39;&#39; he said. ``The years I put in this league should earn that for me. I&#39;m smart enough to play in your league. I&#39;m also smart enough to coach in your league. <br> <br> ``I wish this league would take time to look at minorities and seriously consider them for jobs - and not, &#39;OK, we&#39;re giving you guys a look.&#39; Well, you&#39;re really not giving us a look, you are embarrassing yourselves.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Most embarrassing, Cox said, was placing tapes about minority coaches in a video library for use by NFL teams looking to hire assistants. <br> <br> ``It is a slap in the face,&#39;&#39; he said. ``Other candidates don&#39;t go through that.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Actually, they do. Aiello explained that all potential coaching candidates are placed in the video library, and that the NFL had record numbers of minority assistants and coordinators this season. <br> <br> ``The library includes white coaches, too,&#39;&#39; Aiello said. ``That&#39;s just a way to get to know who the candidates are.&#39;&#39;

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