Browns general manager John Dorsey says that he is willing to hire a woman for the head coaching vacancy, and sources point to one of those considerations being former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Condoleezza Rice Downplays Potential coaching Gig

The first black woman to hold the secretary of state position, Rice can make similar history even if she just lands an interview, as no woman has ever been interviewed for a head coaching job in the NFL. Dorsey issued a statement on the news of the team’s interest in Rice.

“Our coaching search will be thorough and deliberate, but we are still in the process of composing the list of candidates and Secretary Rice has not been discussed,” he said.

Rice also quelled the commotion, posting on Facebook that she isn’t ready to coach, but “would like to call a few plays” for her hometown Browns next season.

“I love my Browns — and I know they will hire an experienced coach to take us to the next level,” Rice wrote. “On a more serious note, I do hope that the NFL will start to bring women into the coaching profession as position coaches and eventually coordinators and head coaches. One doesn’t have to play the game to understand it and motivate players. But experience counts — and it is time to develop a pool of experienced women coaches.”

Rice, one of the first members of the College Football Playoff selection committee, from 2013 to 2016, has a thorough history of involvement with sports and with the Browns. She chaired a commission that suggested an end to the one-and-done rule in college basketball, among several other major rule changes. She often attends Browns games and appears in advertisements representing her team. But this doesn’t necessarily warrant a head coaching job, nor does an interview.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

The Browns are simply interested in seeing what Rice can bring to the organization in terms of leadership and input, and this could lead to an official position as a consultant, and at the very least pushes the discourse that can benefit women in professional sports.

The news prompts a discussion concerning the represenation of women in leadership roles throughout professional sports. The NFL has cosigned the upward trend, as several teams including the Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders, and San Francisco 49ers have each hired women to various positions within the staff; Kathryn Smith, as a quality control assistant, Kelsey Martinez with the strength staff, and Katie Sowers as an offensive assistant, respectively.

The NBA, noted as an inclusive, progressive league with thorough representation has mirrored this, as the San Antonio Spurs hired former WNBA star Becky Hammon as an assistant coach. Speculations circulated that Hammon could be the potential suitor to the throne once head coach Gregg Popovich retires, which would make Hammon the first female head coach in NBA history.

Rice has made it a practice to obliterate racial, gender, and professional boundaries. Even if she doesn’t end up coaching the Browns, Rice’s prowess makes even the mighty shield of the NFL quiver in its gravity.

The ongoing college basketball recruiting scandal reached a turning point on Wednesday after an NCAA commission led by Condoleezza Rice laid out a series of a series of potential reforms to avoid future incidents of bribery and other types of corruption amongst coaches, agents and sponsors.

NCAA Basketball Commission Proposes New Reforms

“The corruption we observed in college basketball has its roots in youth basketball,” said Rice, a former Secretary of State.

SLIDESHOW: 30 Best Sports Instagrams!

Among the most outstanding proposed reforms is one that hopes to end the “one-and-done” rule. This stipulation requires that all basketball players must play at least one full year of college before declaring for the NBA. Several prominent NBA stars, including LeBron James, have said they are opposed to the rule.

The NCAA commission also suggested permitting regulated communication with agents so that they do not try to steer players toward certain college programs and sponsors, as revelations in recent months have shown. Adidas is one of the companies that has become embroiled in the scandal.

The report the panel led by Rice released also included proposals to change the system related to sanctions, as well as summer basketball programs, and demanded sports apparel firms take on greater “transparency and accountability.”

“The levels of corruption and deception are now at a point that they threaten the very survival of the college game as we know it. It has taken some time to get here, and it will take time to change course,” read the report, per the New York Times.

The commission reportedly has not offered any ideas on what to replace the highly-debated one-and-done rule with.

According to several reports, the punishments for recruiting violations could potentially include year-long bans on allowing players to visit, while other infractions could lead to even bigger sanctions like five-year postseason bans and possible loss of postseason revenue sharing.

The commission has also pushed for the NCAA to revamp summer basketball programs, which are key to the recruitment process, so as to exclude involvement from the top three sports apparel giants: Adidas, UnderArmour, and Nike.

Multiple prospects of universities whom Adidas sponsored, like Kansas, Louisville and Miami, were found to have been bribed (along with their families) in an effort to convince them to commit to those schools. These revelations led to indictments from federal prosecutors after a lengthy FBI investigation.

The commission also counts former NBA stars like Grant Hill and David Robinson, as well as former coaches, college presidents and USA Basketball executives, among its members.

SLIDESHOW: 10 Highest-Paid Athletes

Rice also hinted she would support the idea of giving college athletes a cut of any type of commercial use of their names and photos, according to the Times. 

NCAA president Mark Emmert has said college basketball is broken and is in need of major changes.

In other related news, the NCAA is facing a federal antitrust lawsuit. Jeffrey Kessler, a New York lawyer, sued the association in August 2014, claiming the NCAA and its partners have violated antitrust regulations by restricting how basketball and football players are compensated. The case is being determined in California.