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Last Updated: Jan 28th, 2008 - 19:21:11 |
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| New York Jets defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson |
I was one of the more than 85,000 on hand at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, the day after Thanksgiving to see my alma mater, Texas A&M, beat our archrival, The University of Texas, 38-30.
After that thrilling win, Dennis Franchione, tendered his resignation, ending a five-year run that didn't live up to the billing or his $2-million annual check.
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. Yet don't think Texas A&M is alone in zeroing in one candidate in a supposed national search.
Six hours after resigning from the University of Arkansas after 15 years, Houston Nutt had a new job in the Southeastern Conference as head coach of Ole Miss. They didn't even bother to announce a search.
What's wrong with this picture? Many of you may say nothing. But for black and other minority coaches in college football and even the NFL, it's deja vu: Another high-profile head coaching job opens up, and they don't even get a shot to interview for the job.
This continuing exclusion of minority coaches is indicative of Division I-A colleges and universities, which are quick to field black ballplayers, but on the sidelines, you might as well forget about it.
Of the 119 Division I-A colleges, just six have African-Americans as head coaches. In 2006, it was five; three in 2005; five in 2004; and four in 2003. In 1997, there were eight.
After being dumped unceremoniously by Notre Dame after three years, Tyrone Willingham was hired by Washington. The other black coaches are: Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State (after his alma mater, Alabama, didn't choose him); Turner Gill at Buffalo; Karl Dorrell at UCLA (he was fired following the initial publication of this column); Randy Shannon at the University of Miami; and Ron Prince at Kansas State.
And when a black head coach does get a shot, you likely can forget it being at a top-tier program or one that is still in relatively good shape. Also, if not successful, there is virtually no chance they'll get hired elsewhere.
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.
"I said, 'Ron, black coaches have got to get good jobs. They can't turn bad jobs around all the time,''' Paterno told the Altoona Mirror.
But Dickerson didn't listen. He took the job at Temple, a weak football team for years, and now wishes he had listened to JoePa.
Athletic directors and college presidents will be quick to say race has nothing to do with it, but the facts are the facts, and race has to be examined when it's this obvious.
Take the case of Norm Chow: As offensive coordinator at the University of Southern California for four years, he was the mastermind of an explosive team that won back-to-back national championships and featured two Heisman Trophy winners.
When he worked at Brigham Young in the 1970s, he tutored future NFL quarterbacks such as Jim McMahon, Ty Detmer and future pro football Hall of Famer Steve Young. But when it came time to fill head coaching jobs in college, Chow's phone barely rang. Now he is the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, and he still doesn't get a nibble.
Did I mention Chow is Asian?
The NFL finally decided to do something about this problem (after it was threatened with a lawsuit by attorney Johnnie Cochran and others) when it adopted the Rooney Rule in 2002, which mandates that each team considering head coaches interview at least one minority candidate. Today, there are six black head coaches in the NFL: Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts; Lovie Smith, Chicago Bears; Romeo Crennel, Cleveland Browns; Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals; Herm Edwards, Kansas City Chiefs; and Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers. That's down one from last year when Dennis Green led the Arizona Cardinals and Art Shell coached the Oakland Raiders (Tomlin is in his first year).
That means there is the same number of black coaches for 32 NFL teams as there is in 119 Division I-A programs.
The university athletic directors and college presidents will be quick to say that race has nothing to do with it and that they look for the most qualified people. But we know that not to be the case. And other barriers exist.
For instance, Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne made it clear that he wanted someone with previous head coaching experience. Fine. But because black coaches have been excluded for years, so few have gotten the shot for top assistant jobs on the college and pro levels, and that has kept them from becoming head coaches. So by making such a statement, he effectively eliminated nearly every black coach from consideration. And if that is the stipulation by every other AD or college president, we never will see more black coaches because so few get the shot in college or the NFL.
Bottom line: The process is flawed and is inherently unfair.
On the football field, if you run faster, can throw it farther, are more accurate and can hit harder, you get the starting job. That's called an equal playing field. But on the sidelines, the good old boys club reigns, and that's a fraternity that keeps many with my skin tone out.
Go right ahead and send me your e-mails complaining about me playing the race card. But you should be asking yourself why universities won't open these "national searches" up to find the best people and allow them to apply. All of them.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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