Colleges Block Black Coaches Out

[AKAK]

do you guys seriously think English isn't being considered by Martin? i'd find that hard to believe, his team's performance nothwithstanding. .

Whether he is or isn't doesn't matter. I would hope that he doesn't get the job simply because he's black.

I don't want to reduce this issue to one case, but, Guys like English are why this situation is going to improve (or change or whatever you want to say). I can't really remember all the time frames, but, the situation in the NFL was similar in the very recent past... and... primarily the problem for a while was that there was a lack of suitable candidates....

I'm sure there are plenty of bad reasons why, but, it takes time to change that problem in college, too. And English is going to get his shot somewhere coaching someone, he's still young, and relatively inexperienced So the long term picture is whether or not there are more black assistants now than there used to be.... if so, then this will likely change.

The point about "retreads" is a good one too... there are a lot of vacancies in I-A every year, but how many new coaches actually get hired? This limits the opportunities for everyone, black, white, Norm Chow... whoever...

I also get a bit annoyed with the "taking good jobs" vs. Temple (Or whatever the example was) Not like Urban Meyer or Jim Tressel started at premier schools, and if Michigan hires Brian Kelly, same kind of thing.

 

[exhawg]

English seems to be getting suprisingly little chatter to replace Carr. Martin missed his chance to talk Ron up in the piece.

Mark May said he was shocked English wasn't getting more of a look from teams. I am shocked that the DC for a defense as bad as scum's would get any HC consideration. Shouldn't you be good at what you do before you get a promotion?

 

[NewYorkBuck]

In the end - I have a hard time believing an AD isnt going to hire the best possible guy for the job given his ass is on the line. In my job, I hire people all the time. At the end of the day, I have so much work to get out the door timely and correctly. If it doesnt get done, its my ass. I really dont have the "luxury" of worrying about the persons skin/eye/hair color. I just need to get the work done. I just need the best person for the job.

 

[martinss01]

the writers premise is fundamentally flawed. perhaps if his examples didn't suck complete ass and provide 0 evidence to support his claims it might make for a more compelling read.

After being unceremoniously dumped by Notre Dame after three years, Tyrone Willingham was hired by the University of Washington. The other black coaches are: Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State (after his alma mater, the University of Alabama, didn't choose him); Turner Gill at the University of Buffalo; Karl Dorrell at UCLA; Randy Shannon at the University of Miami; and Ron Prince at Kansas State.

And when a black head coach does get a shot, you probably can forget it being at a top-tier program or one that is still in relatively good shape.
Even Penn State's Joe Paterno recognized that fact when he advised one of his assistants, Ron Dickerson, not to take the head coaching job at Temple 15 years ago.

A. regardless of current suckiness ntre ame is in fact high profile.
B. as far as getting a head coaching position at a high profile school that is in good shape... are you kidding me? who the hell gets one of those? when was the last time a coach wass fired from a high profile school after winning a nc and picking up back to back to back 5* recruiting classes? anytime you get a high profile job, its going to be because your there to clean up someones mess.
C. last i checked, washington IS NOT the ass end of college football.

as far as willingham being fired too soon. i think the mass majority of the college world would agree. but i see no reason to beleive it was racially motivated or in anyway unusual in the college world. the simple facts are willingham was brought into ntre ame to make immediate and sweeping changes. he didn't. he was fired. the fact that said expectations were likely impossible is moot. theres no law stating expectations need to be realistic. the proof of this can be found in the illi game thread from this year. and while i would never hire him, its hard to argue with the pedigree that fat weiss brought to the table. 4 super bowl rings and the inventor of offense (or offensive, its one of those anyway).

Three days later, Mike Sherman, the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans and a former Texas A&M assistant coach, was introduced as the new head coach.

pro experience, college experience, history with the university. clearly this man is not qualified for the position and the hire was without question racially motivated.

Six hours after resigning from the University of Arkansas after 15 years, Houston Nutt had a new job in the Southeastern Conference as head of Ole Miss. They didn't even bother to announce a search.

15 yrs experience and fresh off a win against the super god lsu... clearly he is not qualified to lead a 3rd tier div 1 team. gotta be racism.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

In the end - I have a hard time believing an AD isnt going to hire the best possible guy for the job given his ass is on the line.

I see where you're coming from here, but think it slightly misses the mark. Yes, the AD wants the best person for the job, but is he going to put his neck that much farther out onto the block by bringing in a black coach at a school (think SEC, TA&M or Florida State) where the majority of boosters, students and alumni are going to be hostile to the selection from day one. It might be a case of his thinking, "hell, I can survive making the wrong pick if it's the white guy everybody wants, but if I go against the booster-alumni base and bring in a black guy that they're opposed to then, if he fails, I'm out the door too." It's one thing to fail. It's an entirely different thing to fail by going against the grain.

Even at a supposedly civilized school like Notre Dame, they were allegedly passing flyers around the parking lot in protest of Willingham his FIRST year.

 

[shetuck]

I see where you're coming from here, but think it slightly misses the mark. Yes, the AD wants the best person for the job, but is he going to put his neck that much farther out onto the block by bringing in a black coach at a school (think SEC, TA&M or Florida State) where the majority of boosters, students and alumni are going to be hostile to the selection from day one. It might be a case of his thinking, "hell, I can survive making the wrong pick if it's the white guy everybody wants, but if I go against the booster-alumni base and bring in a black guy that they're opposed to then, if he fails, I'm out the door too." It's one thing to fail. It's an entirely different thing to fail by going against the grain.

Even at a supposedly civilized school like Notre Dame, they were allegedly passing flyers around the parking lot in protest of Willingham his FIRST year.

i agree with ORD... when was the last time an AD lost his job for hiring the wrong coach?

which makes me wonder... are there any female ADs out there? already checked with the search function...

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

which makes me wonder... are there any female ADs out there? already checked with the search function...

Nevada has a female AD.

 

[BayBuck]

i agree with ORD... when was the last time an AD lost his job for hiring the wrong coach?

Steve Pederson, Nebraska.

 

[MaxBuck]

One thing has been lost in this whole debate. That being, if a black head coach is hired who really cannot handle the job, that will set back progress by decades. The BCA should be happy that the hiring of black HCs is proceeding as deliberately as it is. Too bad the failing black coach cannot be judged by his performance alone (much like the legions of failing white coaches), but there it is.

Karl Dorrell (he of the lack of affect) and Ty Willingham are good -- not poor, not excellent -- D1 HCs. More examples like these two should be found, and they should be allowed to be inappropriately fired, much like their similarly non-excellent Caucasian counterparts like Houston Nutt and Ed Orgeron. If colleges wish to believe they have a football tradition that they in fact lack (read - Arkansas or Ole Miss), they should be able to nurture this self-delusion by firing and hiring inappropriately, whether they have hired an African-American, Greek-American, Hispanic-American, or Ukrainian.

 

[shetuck]

one thing i am hearing more and more (especially the last few days, for obvious reasons) is that what is important is that at least some kind of consideration be given - some college football equivalent of the NFL's Rooney Rule. i can't say i have a problem with that, so long as those interviews are *in addition* to the number of candidates the AD had in mind to conduct.

the problem, it seems to me, is that there's no centralized policy-making body at the ncaa-level that has the kind of clout the owners have in the NFL. it may be something that could/would be perhaps best accomplished at the conference level, imo.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Black coaches need to pick the right jobs

Ron Prince just wasn't ready for a BCS-school job. (Brian Bahr / Getty Images)

From afar, the premature dismissal of Kansas State football coach Ron Prince appears to be a tale of a black coach cut down before receiving a fair opportunity in a backwoods environment.
From ground zero, the fall of Prince is a cautionary tale, revealing the perils of a talented, charismatic, immature coach crashing and burning in a dysfunctional, athletic-department environment that could in no way nurture his development.
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Prince carries himself like the smartest man on campus, and he very well might be. But his brand of book intelligence has little traction at a school for future farmers. He talked over everyone's head. He promised to be bold and daring and take on any team anywhere at a place where Snyder promised little beyond hard work and delivered nine to 10 victories a season.
Prince ran off his assistant coaches with abusive, humiliating treatment. He once punished his assistants by making them run stadium stairs. He treated his players worse. After this season's loss to Louisville, he reportedly put his players through a strenuous conditioning session when they arrived back on campus at 3 a.m. Ron Prince needed help. He needed a strong A.D., someone able to explain to him where he was and what that meant, someone willing to help him see that you can't be Bobby Knight in the new millennium, especially when you're not backed by a truckload of national and conference titles.
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Top-flight black BCS assistant coaches should be targeting mid-major head-coaching jobs. The MAC, Sun Belt, Mountain West and Conference USA are good proving grounds for future BCS coaches. Gill and Houston's Kevin Sumlin hold non-BCS jobs.
Many black assistant coaches limit their opportunities because they're too shortsighted. They're unwilling to pursue a MAC or I-AA job because the pay might be less than being a position coach at a BCS school.
No risk, no reward.
Brady Hoke, who is white, took a pay cut when he left Michigan to lead his alma mater, Ball State, the 17th-ranked team in the country. Even after a raise following a 2007 bowl season, he is still paid poorly ($240,000) by even MAC standards, has no coaching offices and the school's administration recently suggested in an Indianapolis Star story that it has no interest in properly supporting his success.
But six seasons into his tenure, he's developed into the perfect BCS candidate and positioned himself (if he chooses) to bolt from a university that doesn't appreciate or comprehend what he's accomplished. Playing the coaching game is not nearly enough. Playing the coaching game properly is the only thing that will lead to significant progress for black college coaches.


Entire article: http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/8762902/Black-coaches-need-to-pick-the-right-jobs

 

[Jake]

Given the amount of money schools spend, and can make, with a good football program the only color they care about is green, and they'll hire the guy they think can best make it for them.