Tuesday, December 16, 2008

"A Gentleman's Agreement"

Charles Barkley's comments about his Alma mater sent shock waves in the sports world. The mound bound of rebound accused Auburn of using race as a factor in their hiring of former Iowa State football coach Gene Chizik. Of course some intelligent and sane people could probably accept the reasoning of his diagnosis considering the current state of minority coaching opportunities. However "conventional wisdom" in post civil rights America claims that race wasn't a factor.

I'd like to inform some and reinterate to others the clandestine agreements that existed during the early days of college and pro football. Maybe that last statement caught you off guard. I can see the questions forming in your mind. The most obvious one is, what does the ghosts of football past have to do with Auburn's coaching decision. I'm so glad you asked.

The late 19th century saw the dawning of a new game that was brutal in nature but intriguing to a bunch of rag tag college students and working class men. The Ivy leagues were the first "traditional powers" of college football boasting stars such as Pudge Heffelfinger. True sports historians are well versed in the rivalries between Harvard and Yale. Princeton was in the mix as well but I know you're still wondering, what does that have to do with to day?... Don't worry we're almost there.

The turn of the century saw many state and private colleges start football programs. Naturally many people of different backgrounds were attracted to the new game. Tiny Carlisle College was an all Native American school that produced a gifted athlete. Some guy named Jim Thorpe. Ever heard of him? As blacks were attracted to the game men like Paul Roberson were under intense pressure as being the only person of color allowed to play at all white universities.

One of the first black people to play at a major university was William Henry Lewis in 1889 at Amherst College. Though northern, east, mid-western and west coast universities were the first to allow black players, they never allowed on more than one black on the team during a four year letterman scholarship period. This is were the gentleman's agreement was born. Of course in typical regional fashion, they believed themselves to be socially ahead of the curve in comparison to their southern brethren.

The idea of a black player playing in the south wasn't even an option. From that perspective I guess anyone can see how they arrived at this "arrogance" considering the culture of the times. True to its form, racism has a way of causing its victims not to view life through the eyes of obvious context clues. The early days of the southeastern conference bears witness to how the college administrators arrived to their "gentleman's agreement".

That same rule STILL APPLIES amongst the boosters and alumni who have grown more powerful than the college presidents and athletic directors. The gentleman's agreement as morphed into a more subtle and sinister enigma hidden in all of the television contracts that make millionaires out of a lot of people. At some programs, "boosters" have a direct influence on who gets fired or hired as the next coach. They play college administrators like puppets because they are an integral part of the funding of the multi-billion dollar industry that college sports has become.

Maybe you're reading this and you still don't believe that the past has a direct influence on the future. Consider this. During the civil rights struggles, The Southeastern conference school presidents along with "The white citizens council" which consisted of state and local politicians, local and state business professionals and media outlets openly protested the integration of state funded schools.

Before the 1956 Sugar bowl, Governor Marvin Griffin demanded that Georgia Tech not play against the Pitt Panthers because they had a black player. In a telegram to the Georgia Board of Regents, Griffin declared that integration was like "Armageddon". What did Griffin see in his rant that caused him to liken a player participating in a football game to the end of the world? What he saw was ACCESS.

It is the same insightful vision that many people across the nation(not just the south) feared when black people took the field of play, matriculated in state colleges, and yes in modern times have access to the opportunity to run their own business, major corporations and even this great country. White Supremacy had it biggest fears come to light when the SEC and other power conferences started having more black stars become the "face" of their programs.

Could this sentiment still be amongst the ranks of the alumni and power brokers of the Auburn Universities of the world? Is it still that far fetched to believe that Gene Chizik's hiring is one of the biggest head scratchers of the college football coaching carousel? Still on the fence? Okay let's take America's racial history out of the equation for a brief moment.

Let's ask some fair questions in this hire. Chizik had a 5-19 overall record at his two seasons at the helm at Iowa State. He was on Tuberville's staff in 2004 when they were snubbed for the BCS championship game. Let's get this straight, how is it that any Auburn fan can support the fact that the administrators of this proud program replaced a successful coach for a guy who had a losing season and once worked for the guy you just fired?

Secondly, Turner Gill proved himself at a much tougher place to win considering the University of Buffalo's limited success before Gill's arrival. The unspoken gentleman's agreement at Nebraska (during Gill's interview for the job) wasn't that Gill's team was only 5-7. It was the fact that is own Alma mater didn't trust him to be the face of the program. They chose a guy (Bo Pelini) who had very limited ties to the university with the exception of the stint he had as a defensive coordinator there.

Nebraska chose him over a guy that help them make them millions over the course of his 4 year career. Never mind that he set the wheels in motion to land Tommie Frazier who went on to become a 3 time National championship game MVP en route to capturing 2 straight national championships. Typically "coaching trees" carry a lot of weight in the hiring decisions of college administrators.

Turner Gill cut is teeth under Tom Osborne who is a legend in the coaching profession. Did Auburn or Nebraska consider this? Of course not. That would be to much like right and a violation of the updated version of "The Gentleman's Agreement".

1 comment:

  1. Nice post very informative, and well researched...Did you here Turner Gill's response about Barkley's comments and the whole Auburn thing?

    ReplyDelete