Thursday, February 19, 2009

Only the STRONG SURVIVE.

The elephant in the room for college football has been minority coaching. Courageous journalist like Gene Wojciechowski, Pat Forde, Jason Whitlock and Jemelle Hill(some of my favorites I might add) have wrote eloquent articles dissecting the finer points of why college administrators are like catbirds in their approach to hiring minority candidates.

Charlie Strong has proven himself at the college level for over twenty years. The proverbial rite of passage for a head coaching job has been a coordinator's position. Strong has been the defensive coordinator at Florida for several seasons. He also had a stint in the same role at South Carolina. So what's the problem?. Is it all entirely Race? Yes and No.

Any successful coordinator on any side of the ball may find themselves asking certain questions when they have a desire to go to the next level in their career. There are hundreds of coaches of multiple backgrounds that probably fly under the radar. Every minority coach may not want to be a head coach but does that mean so few of them are uniquely unqualified? NO!!!! Does it mean that most minority candidates don't want to pay their dues? Of course not.

Most minority coaches break into coaching as graduate assistants just like their white peers. I guess the fair question to ask is where do guys like Strong go wrong? Reportedly he interviews well. He is known as closer on the recruiting trail. His players play hard for him and they respect him immensely. One of the issues is that not very many minority candidates become graduate assistants.

RACE is definitely a factor but we must look a little deeper than the obvious. Eric Holder, the newly appointed Attorney General called the American people "cowardly" for our actions in dealing with issues of race.

His words are timely considering the socioeconomic climate in America today. Couldn't the same term apply to the college presidents, administrators and boosters who repeatedly "ignore" the vast talent pool of minority coaches? You betcha...

Cowardice isn't always necessarily rooted in hate. Fear is the true catalyst that impedes social change. It's true that America has progressed to the point where we can have a woman secretary of state, a black president (sorry Bill Clinton) and a black attorney general but these examples of progress doesn't always translate perfectly into all aspects of American life. College football is one of those gray areas that has so much room for improvement.

Strong was asked during a press conference whether or not his "interracial" marriage was a factor in his hiring. His answer was a resounding yes. If that's true (which it probably is) then it speaks to some deeply rooted fears that have long plagued some white men for two centuries in American History.

It's always been cool for the Strom Thurmond's and the Thomas Jefferson's of "white society" to have a black mistress but never cool for Mandingo (Sorry Ken Norton) to have "massa's" wife or daughter as a sexual play thing. It's always been an unspoken experiment for a black athlete to have to prove to white society that blacks could thrive in a climate where they weren't particularly welcomed.

If Jackie Robinson fails then it proves that the theory of racial separation and superiority are valid means of conducting a society. If Paul Roberson, Jerry Levias (first black to integrate the old southwest conference) and Perry Wallace (first black to intergrate the SEC) fail then the next generation of black athletes that followed would've never set foot on many of America's college campuses.

Can the same assessment be made for college football coaches? Sure it can. Ron Prince , Dr. Fitz Hill (formally of San Jose State he's completely out of coaching) Sly Croom, Ty Willingham and Karl Dorrell have all recently failed at their most recent stops. Dorrell and Willingham both had some success but not to the degree that really breaks barriers. What kind of pressure should we assume that Randy Shannon of the University of Miami is under?

If Lane Kiffin fails at Tennessee it will be regarded as a failure by him. When a Sly Croom fails its more of a see I told you that "they" couldn't do it. Programs will still buy into the young, brash, and "hot" young coach. Unfortunately the Charlie Strong's or Turner Gill's of the world will get passed up for the likes of Kiffin, Chizik and Dan Mullen.(Strong has more experience than the three of them combined)

The college powers that be seem to borrow from the behavior of the New York Post. They masterfully use misdirection as a means of hiding their true feelings while portraying to the public that guys like Charlie Strong aren't really that qualified. "Gradual Progress" has always been the mod us operandi of American society.

The NFL has become somewhat of an underground railroad for minority coaches. Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Mike Tomlin, and Dennis Green all got on that train that Curtis Mayfield sang about. The glass ceiling in college proved to much for them to handle. All of them found a measure of success in the NFL.

Would Mike Tomlin get the job at any college program coming off a losing campaign in the NFL? Could we apply the same question to Herm Edwards? It was a "no brainer" for Nebraska to hire Bill Callahan right? People who view the Rooney Rule or Affirmative Action as a "quotas" can never give concrete answers on how to fix such a complex issue.

Mike Tomlin's success may have made it easier for Tampa Bay to Hire Raheem Morris. Spare me with the idea that they hired the best candidate. Dungy success paved the way for the likes of Tomlin, Marvin Lewis, Herm Edwards and Denny Green.

Some fans don't see this as an issue at all. "The best candidate" will always get the job they say. Not entirely guys. The Charlie Strong's of the world survive the coaching rat race due to their perseverance, love for the kids they coach and most importantly because they love the game. Football imitates that game of life in so many ways. Sadly it hasn't caught up to the coaching ranks of college football. Someday it will...

Drew Patton

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