And then there were five. With UCLA firing head coach Karl Dorrell, albeit deservedly, now just five of 119 coaches in the NCAA are black.
It doesn't seem like that number will increase any time soon. Not with teams like Texas A&M interviewing just one guy before making a decision or teams like Nebraska hiring Bo Pelini, with zero head coaching experience, over Turner Gill, who was the MAC Coach of the Year.
Some people wonder what the issue is. Some don't think there is an issue. However, it's clear that highly qualified black coaches are out there and aren't getting a chance to succeed for a number of reasons. It's not like the '60s and '70s, when black coaches literally couldn't get head coaching jobs outside of the historically black colleges and universities.
Nobody opens up a head coaching position with a disclaimer "no black coaches allowed." Today, it's obvious race plays a part, though it is more subtle and not direct.
For starters, it's all about money. It's no secret that college football is a money-making machine. Major
institutions bring in millions of dollars each year. A main responsibility for a college football head coach is to be a spokesperson for the university and to get alumni to write checks. Most of these rich alumni who donate huge sums of money to the athletic department are old and white. They come from a time period when segregation was commonplace and operate on the good-ole-boy system.
In a lot of cases, it's the influential alumni who make the hires. These alumni want someone with which they can identify, and that can convince them to donate. Thus, this is one of the big reasons very few black coaches get hired.
Juxtapose that with the NFL, where there is no alumni system and 18.75 percent of coaches are black. That percent is not a lot, but it is certainly more than the 4 percent of college coaches who are black.
Then, there's the stereotype out there that black coaches can relate to players and recruit, but they don't have the cerebral knowledge required to do the game-planning and scheming the position requires. Every athletic director wants the next Urban Meyer, a guy who has an innovative and exciting offense. Based on stereotypes, many institutions probably believe they aren't getting that type of guy with a black coach.
Try telling that to guys like Florida co-defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, West Virginia offensive coordinator Calvin Magee and Kentucky offensive coordinator Joker Phillips. Strong won a national championship while leading the Florida defense, Magee is coaching West Virginia in another BCS bowl game and Phillips coordinated a high-powered Kentucky offense this season.
Now the excuses for not hiring black coaches are getting ridiculous. It used to be that they did not have the "experience" required. But, guys like Pelini, with no head coaching experience, being hired over a guy with experience like Gill makes you scratch your head. Supposedly, Tom Osborne wanted a "defensive guy."
Mike Haywood, a former Texas assistant and current Notre Dame offensive coordinator, appeared to be the leading candidate at the University of Houston. However, when news of that got out, the school suddenly shifted their attention to 71-year-old Jack Pardee, who has been out of football for 12 years. I can't think of many reasons why a school would look to pluck a washed up has-been out of the nursing home over a bona fide assistant. It seems to me that some folks were uncomfortable with the prospect of having a black coach.
Some tried to blame Notre Dame's poor season this year on former coach Tyrone Willingham's bad recruiting class, even though current coach Charlie Weiss had no problem winning with Willingham's players the last two seasons.
Even Texas has its issues. UT has never had a black offensive or defensive coordinator and is the only one of the three major Texas schools (Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech) yet to have one. It's not as if there is a shortage of viable options, such as UT graduate and NFL assistant Jerry Gray.
I thought this school was supposed to be cutting-edge in terms of diversity.
It's a long process. The more money gets involved, the harder it's going to be. There are some things that can help though. For one, black players have agency. Forty-five percent of NCAA players are black. About 75 percent of the Rivals Top 100 recruiting list is black. If these athletes made the decision to only think about schools with black coaches, it would make athletic directors and alumni change their minds.
You would think the fact that two black coaches were in the Super Bowl last year would help, but the dividends haven't paid off yet. Perhaps the reward of getting the next Tony Dungy is negated by the risk of getting the next Karl Dorrell.
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