The NFL has made efforts to hire more people of color, the Associated Press' Steve Reed reports at the Huffington Post, but the league should strengthen its "gender hiring practices."
The NFL received its fourth consecutive A grade for its racial hiring practices amid concerns over a significant drop in minority head coaches this season.
The league also drew a C+ for gender hiring practices in the annual report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport released Tuesday.
Overall, the total number of women and people of color at or above the vice president level in the NFL increased by 11 percent. The league received an overall grade of B.
The institute says it issues the grades in relation to the overall patterns in society.
Richard Lapchick, the main author, said the league continues to receive high grades because of what he sees as a continued emphasis on diversity from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his staff.
"It's been a priority of his commissionership since he took over," Lapchick said, pointing to Goodell's decision to hire Robert Gulliver as the executive vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer in 2010.
Read Steve Reed's entire piece at the Huffington Post.
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