Black coaches being hired for the coveted posts

Filed in archive College Football on February 21, 2010

© dbking

Earlier blacks had a better chance of excelling in the army rather than sports but that seems to be changing with rise of blacks to position of top football coaches. They are being hired for the coveted jobs by football teams. Larry Porter got the cap at Memphis, Joker Philips was handed over Kentucky and Charlie Strong got his program to run Louisville and we are still counting. Even UT has hired a black head coach for a major sporting event. Also there seems to be less or no resistance from top bosses to hire black coaches, so it seems the trend is changing.

College football has always lagged behind in hiring black head coaches and as a result Black Coaches & Administrators or BCA was created in 1988 for advocating hiring of minors. It even maintains a report card of schools conducting hiring every year. 2010 season is expected to see a total of thirteen black head coaches. History was created in 2008 when London won a Football Championship Subdivision national title at Richmond under a black. One of the reasons why blacks don't get the coveted job is that they tend to lag behind on the progression ladder. In very rare circumstances schools offer top coaching jobs to candidates who have not been a head coach at lower level and this creates an obstacle for the blacks. The past two hiring seasons have been good and therefore it has given a ray of hope to black candidates. I feel this has to change forever and discrimination on the basis of color has to become a thing of the past.