There’s a disturbing rumor floating around the Internet these days.I was perusing cnnsi.com and there was a short story about how a group of black assistant coaches is considering a class-action lawsuit against the NFL in an attempt to place more of their number in head coaching positions.I hope it’s not true. However, considering the source was The New York Times, odds are pretty good it is. While nothing may come of it, the very fact it is being considered is scary.Why? Because if a group of black NFL coaches sues for more jobs, what’s to say other coaches won’t do the same?Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for minority coaches – if they’re qualified. Tony Dungy, Ray Rhodes and Dennis Green have proven themselves able at the head level. While it is obvious that they are few in number, they have represented themselves well.Perhaps this will lead to more minority coaches. Hopefully, it does. As long as they’re qualified. It is true that there are plenty of unqualified white head coaches out there. However, they will keep getting jobs for one simple reason. They’ve done it before and owners are afraid to go with the unknown. They’re afraid that if they take a flyer on anyone – black, white, or whatever – and it doesn’t work out, they’ll look like fools. Look no further than the Cincinnati Bengals. They hired Dave Shula, who turned out to be well over his head. However, they didn’t want to admit it, so they hung on longer than they should have. The result was a fiasco.(The following few paragraphs are verbatim from the cnnsi article.)”The assistants have gone so far as to speak to civil rights lawyers about their chances and options, The Times said. Some of the assistants said the chance of filing such a lawsuit was extremely small.”Right now,” one of them said, “it’s just talk.” According to another assistant, that is because such a suit could prove to be more detrimental than helpful. There is the fear that any assistant coach who became part of it would “end up like Curt Flood,” who was treated as an outcast after challenging major league baseball’s reserve system in court. None of the assistants was identified by the newspaper.At the center of the issue is Sherman Lewis, highly respected offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl Green Bay Packers. Lewis was not interviewed for any of the 11 coaching vacancies after the 1996 season.”Lewis is undoubtedly one of the most talented coaches in the game. While Mike Holmgren may have brought the West Coast offense with him from San Francisco, Lewis has had a huge impact on the Packers’ version of the offense.However, Lewis receives almost no credit for this. Is it because he’s black? Maybe. Hopefully, it’s more a case of Holmgren getting the credit regardless of who his coordinator is.Let’s hope that NFL owners will begin to come around to the fact that there are plenty of qualified coaches, general managers and other personnel out there who happen to be black.If the assistants do sue, it could ruin the NFL. Teams would be paranoid with every move they made, afraid that they would get sued at every tune.Think the TV networks are worried?