CHICAGO -- Rev. Jesse Jackson has demanded that the NFL investigate the hiring of Steve Mariucci, saying the Detroit Lions violated the league's policy requiring teams to consider at least one minority for coaching positions.

The Lions targeted Mariucci as their coach after he was fired by the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 15 and did not conduct any other in-person interviews.

"Steve Mariucci may be a fine coach, and may have emerged as the selection anyway," Jackson said. "However the selection process is flawed if no minority candidates were given serious consideration as the NFL's policy dictates."

Under criticism by civil rights attorneys Johnnie Cochran and Cyrus Mehri for their practice of hiring minorities, the NFL implemented a comprehensive program to promote diversity in their coaching and front office ranks based upon recommendations of the NFL Committee on Workplace Diversity.

Appointed by commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Oct. 31, the committee is headed by Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney. Under recommendations of the committee, NFL team owners strongly agreed on the principle that any club seeking to hire a head coach will interview one or more minority applicants for the position.

Rooney indicted the Lions on Tuesday, saying their search "fell short of what the committee recommends for all clubs as agreed."

Jackson said he believes Rooney's comment on Detroit's selection process "in itself, is the smoking gun."

Jackson urged for Detroit to be heavily penalized, including fines and disqualification from the upcoming college draft, or else "other teams will violate the hiring process."

There are only three black head coaches in the league with the recent hire of Marvin Lewis by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Lions fired Marty Mornhinweg on Dec. 27 with the intention of hiring Mariucci, who was born and raised in Iron City, Mich.

Meanwhile, the 49ers have gone through a lengthy interview process, interviewing numerous black candidates and two are among the finalists for the job - defensive coordinators Ted Cottrell of the New York Jets and Greg Blache of the Chicago Bears.

"There were several black coaches available between the end of the season and when Mariucci was fired," Jackson said. "If Detroit was earnest, why were they not given an opportunity to interview for the job? Mariucci was the only coach to have an in-person interview. (Lions) General manager Matt Millen never named any other candidate for the job."

Knowing that Mariucci was the likely coach, several black coaches refused to interview with Millen for the job, but Jackson said he believes that is irrelevant.

"Would you interview for a job you already know is going to someone else?" Jackson said. "Would you allow yourself to be used by the Lions so they could get around the NFL policy? These men are not fools and shouldn't be treated that way."