Much has been made about the fact that Sunday's Super Bowl features the first two African-American head coaches to make it to the NFL's championship game. This is not much ado about nothing.

Indianapolis's Tony Dungy and Chicago's Lovie Smith are considered by many to be among the NFL's best coaches, regardless of color. They are also close friends. It's fitting that they will make history together.

Dungy and Smith, though, are two of just four African-American head coaches in the NFL (Kansas City's Herman Edwards and Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis are the others). The lack of diversity was such a problem that the NFL instituted a policy several years ago stating that an African-American needed to be interviewed for any head coaching vacancy.

This same diversity issue also plagues college football. There are only a handful of African-American head coaches among the 117 Division I schools. Just as importantly, there are relatively few African-American assistant coaches at the pro and college level.

Given that NFL head coaching openings are usually filled by either top NFL assistants or college coaches, the lack of African-Americans in these positions limits their chances for advancement.

Dungy and Smith's facing each other on Sunday sends a strong message about the need for more diversity in pro and college football. They also both serve as role models for African-Americans who may aspire to be an NFL or college coach someday.

It's been a long time coming.