Major League Soccer again earned mostly high marks for its racial and gender hiring.
The league received its fourth consecutive A for racial hiring on Tuesday from the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. MLS also maintained its B-minus for gender hiring practices.
The league's combined race and gender grade of B-plus was the same as last year, even though its points total decreased from 86.5 to 84.5. The only major sore spot for the league was an F grade in the category for general managers, all of whom are white.
''It's important we have diversity of race and gender and more importantly diversity of thought, whether it's the style that the players operate on the field or the style of how the business operations are conducted,'' MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche said.
Information for the study was gathered from team media guides and the league office. Grades were issued according to patterns and minority statistics in society.
Richard Lapchick, the Institute's director and author of the study, said MLS has some of the best diversity initiatives in the sports industry.
He highlighted diversity awareness and sexual harassment training for all teams and members of the league office; outreach programs and initiatives to Hispanic and black communities; recruiting committees and internship programs designed to reach women and minorities; and a coaching diversity initiative that began in July 2007 and is similar to the NFL's ''Rooney Rule,'' which requires a minority candidate be interviewed for a vacant position.
There was, however, a decrease in minority head coaches from four to two - the Chicago Fire's Carlos De Los Cobos and Chivas USA's Martin Vasquez - since last year. But minority assistant coaches have increased from 9.5 percent to 19.6 percent since 2008.
''Those initiatives clearly have been slow to filter down. But when you see a big uptick in minority assistants, you hope in the coming years that will trickle up to head coaches,'' Lapchick said.
The percentage of minority players has increased from 38 percent to 46 percent since 2008, the highest proportion since the first study in 1998. MLS also had the highest percentage of international players this year in league history at 37 percent.
The percentage of minorities in senior administrator roles increased slightly between 2008 and 2010 from 18.9 to 19.3 percent. But of the 11 people listed as general managers, there wasn't one minority. The league has never had a black GM.
''We acknowledge that it's an area we need to improve,'' Courtemanche said. ''But overall we think our deep diversity is reflected in the league office and our teams.''
