NEW YORK -- The civil rights group that helped initiate the NFL's recent push for minority hiring believes the league's new policy should have stiffer penalties.

Last week, the NFL instituted a policy requiring teams to interview minority candidates for coaching vacancies.

The civil rights group believes teams not conforming to the policy should face stiff penalties, such as forfeiting or voluntarily surrendering draft choices.

Cyrus Mehri, who with Johnnie Cochran Jr. led the push to accelerate the pace of minority hiring in the NFL, said Monday he's happy about the new policy, but teams that don't conform should be penalized.

Mehri cited the recent talks between Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells as an example. The two met last Wednesday for five hours and said they talked about the league in general.

But with Cowboys coach Dave Campo just about out, both conceded there was some discussion about Parcells coaching in Dallas. If Parcells is hired, it likely will be without the Cowboys conducting any other interviews.

"If that hiring goes through, then we'd like to see a system where Dallas would voluntarily forfeit a draft choice,'' Mehri said.

Joe Browne, the NFL's senior vice president, said that while there could be sanctions in such instances, draft choices would not be involved.

"The owners strongly agreed on the principle that they would interview one or more minority coaches before they made a final decision,'' Browne said Monday.

"If a club does not do that, they are at least violating the spirit of that agreement. Commissioner Tagliabue may or may not take disciplinary action. However, there are going to be no loss of draft choices involved in this process.''

The NFL's new policy, announced Friday, said owners agreed that they would "seriously'' interview at least one minority candidate for each coaching vacancy.

The policy was developed by a committee appointed in October and headed by Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney, following a report on minority hiring issued by a group headed by Mehri.

The NFL currently has two black head coaches -- Herman Edwards of the New York Jets and Tony Dungy of Indianapolis. Former Minnesota coach Dennis Green and Washington defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis are considered potential candidates for the four-to-six openings likely after this season.

Mehri suggested the NFL could enforce its new policy in three ways: