Contact
Let’s end racism in college football
By Bill McCamley
“Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
“Right, but… but I’ve learned that we can’t judge people based on what they look like.” – Eric Cartman
In a recent column, Dan Foley claims the “word on the street” is that New Mexico State University Athletic Director McKinley Boston is not going to consider a coach from the University of Alabama for NMSU’s head position purely because he is white and Dr. Boston only will consider black candidates. After a long diatribe, Foley concludes that “The ‘color’ of a person you hire is irrelevant. Anyone who tries to tell you it should be a factor used in considering a person is not only wrong, but is also, sadly — consciously or unconsciously — a racist. There’s no place for that in the 21st Century.”
This sounds great, but there are two problems with this hypothesis. First and foremost, the accusation that Dr. Boston would only hire based on race simply doesn’t jive with reality. His first hire as athletic director was Head Football Coach Hal Mumme (Check out this picture. A whiter person would be hard to find.)
Furthermore, unlike Foley, I actually asked Dr. Boston about Jim McElwain, the coach Foley claims is being discriminated against because he is white. Boston responded by saying that McElwain was invited to interview with the search committee but has not because of scheduling conflicts. Boston said he is still having conversations with McElwain’s agent about a possible interview.
Way off target
The second problem with Foley’s column is that, though his statement about race is completely right, his target is way off. Race as a function of hiring in the college football coaching ranks has been a hot topic for years, and not because white people have been discriminated against. Here are the facts. During the past year in the Bowl Subdivision (the top level of college football including teams eligible to enter bowl games that can be seen on TV over the holidays and where both NMSU and UNM play), 50 percent of all football players were black. However, as you climb the ranks of football hierarchy, the number of African Americans participating steadily declines. Some 31 percent of lower assistant coaches were black, while only 12 percent of offensive and defensive coordinators (the top assistants on the team) were.
After the coaches from Mississippi State, Kansas State and Washington all either resigned or were fired in the past month, only three black coaches are left in the top football classification. There are 119 schools. That equals 2.5 percent. Rounding out the count includes only two other minority head coaches: a Cuban-American at Florida International and a Samoan-American at Navy.
The situation actually gets worse. The top six conferences in college football form a subdivision of that FBS category called Bowl Championship. Simply put, for a coach to have a regular chance at getting into a big bowl or the national championship, they have to be at one of these teams. Only one black coach remains in this category (University of Miami). Arguments from many commentators on this problem focus on access. The problem is that black candidates hardly ever get considered for head positions, and when they do, the vast majority get a shot at schools with terrible records.
The Auburn situation
Two weeks ago the race issue popped its ugly head at traditional football power Auburn University. A man named Gene Chizek was awarded the head coach position over another candidate, Turner Gill. Chizek had a good record as a defensive coordinator and coached the last two years at Iowa State, a member of the Big-12 (one of the top six conferences — think Texas and Oklahoma). But in the last two seasons at Iowa State he went 5-19 (He won five games and lost 19).
Turner Gill, on the other hand, was hired as the coach at Buffalo three years ago. Buffalo had a program like NMSU’s (one of the worst in the country). Though he only went 2-8 in his first year, that improved to 5-7 in 2007 and this year he went 8-5, beating a previously undefeated Ball State team ranked 12th in the country. This led to Buffalo traveling to the first bowl game ever in school history.
Charles Barkley, a famous basketball player who played at Auburn, recently criticized the hiring of Chizek over Gill, saying that “I think race was the No. 1 factor” in the decision. Now Barkley is a hothead who will say all sorts of things to get in to the news. But, when examining the overall scenario that black coaches seem to face and the specific records of the two people involved in the Auburn case, he seems to make a good point here.
It becomes more pertinent when other sports are considered. There are a high number of black coaches in both college and pro basketball, and last year the Boston Celtics won the National Basketball Association championship with a black coach. Even the National Football Association recognized that access given to black coaches was a problem in the pros and instituted a policy called the “Rooney Rule.” It stated that teams had to at least interview a minority coach when an opening occurred. The result: There are now six black head coaches out of 32 teams, and two of them actually faced each other in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.
Rather than pretending racism doesn’t exist…
So what is the bottom line here? Whether we admit it or not, whether it is on the surface or not, whether it is conscious or not, race is playing a role in decisions to hire coaches in college football. Should Dr. Boston hire someone purely because of their skin color? Or course not. However, because others have made their decisions based on race, it can be presumed that there is an abundance of quality African American head coaches available, and that fact should be evaluated in any discussion. Don Haskins used that same principle to win a national championship in college basketball 40 years ago at Texas Western (now UTEP).
Americans have come a long way in terms of race relations. There are now high profile minority university Leaders, journalists, CEOs, judges, and now even a mixed-race president. But we’re not there yet. And rather than wasting time pretending that small pockets of racism, including the one in college football, don’t exist, we should all be doing whatever we can to stamp out the last bastions of this ignorant attitude.
McCamley is the outgoing District 5 Doña Ana County commissioner.
5 comments so far. Scroll down to submit your own comment.
Leave a response
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Wow Bill anytime I can help you write something that gets people to respond I am glad to help.
First let me say I am glad that Dr. Boston will talk to you since his response to media folks has been “no comment” apparently Bill you are not the media so he will comment.
I would take you article piece by piece but I am sure no one has the will or desire to read me pick apart your column with all its mistakes and “throw away” comments.
But first let me say this, if Dr. Boston is moving away from his comments earlier, that are attributed to a well place source that will remain nameless, then I welcome the sudden change. Look at the list of the candidates and it still makes one wonder.
When you say that I am off target with my column and continue to talk about how black coaches have been discriminated against I guess you mean it is OK if the discrimination is carried out on a white coach? See Bill you just don’t get it, and I am not surprised since you are a Democrat.
As a Republican I continue to stand with my party and oppose discrimination at any level period! You like the rest of your Democrat friends continue to defend discrimination only now you are leading one to believe it is ok for this injustice to be carried out on a person because he or she is white. Sorry, Bill I am proud as a Republican to join the party that opposed slavery and discrimination then and will continue to oppose discrimination today.
Bill you represent your party well by carrying on the tradition, a very long one I might add, of supporting discrimination and racism. No need for people to be worried though because a young group of Republicans will continue to fight this plague as we have for quite a few years already.
Thank you Bill for highlighting once again the differences between Republicans and Democrats. A difference that I am always glad to have pointed out.
Here’s hoping the NMSU team is soon moved to a division where they can compete effectively. This will be better for the players’ morale and make the games more interesting.
After 40 years of having white and black coaches, NMSU is still witless about NCAA Division 1 sports. It is not about skin color, nor is it about who NMSU picks as coach; rather, it is if the NMSU leaders have learned their lesson about the better financed programs in football overwhelmingly winning against lesser financed athletic programs like NMSU. So how much longer is NMSU going to play Texas and Nebraska or in the WAC for that matter before they either pony up considerably more money for the athletic department or drop down a division to programs with equivalent financing?
When it comes to success on the football field, the “blackness” of the coach has absolutely nothing to do with the fans turning their backs on NMSU for most of 40 years. There is an old saying in business: the customer is not always right but the customer always is the one with the money. Even more to the point, “If people don’t want to come out to the ball park, nobody’s gonna stop ‘em,” said Yogi Berra.
The NMSU athletic department has held a referendum on their philosophy of running an athletic program and the fans have voted with their feet. The fans are not against NMSU, rather, they want value for the value they give in the form of their participation in the sporting event. In fact, the NMSU fans want to believe in the Aggies but have spent 40 years being disappointed.
It is about the leadership at NMSU giving the fans what they want. Look how quickly the fans came to love Reggie Theus, not for the color of his skin but for the content of his character that he brought to our little burg. As far as I am concerned, he is always welcome here in Las Cruces. It was really fun to hear him on the radio and see him coaching. He made me feel good about my contributing some of my hard earned money to see the Aggies play. I felt a little of that with Tony Samuels and none of it for Mumme.
Finally, let me quibble with the moniker “black” because with our new president we are descriptively adrift. Is Obama black or white? Yes to both. So how do you describe him? President-elect Obama is importantly of African Heritage, the first of his heritage to become our president. NMSU has and has had coaches of African Heritage. I hope they are a coach at NMSU for the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.
Please NMSU give me a good reason to come to next season’s games other than to support the witless policies of competition that have not been successful in 40 years. The battle is not about black and white, it is about giving fans a reason to be joyful. Theus did that so it can be done.
Thanks Bill for the nice column. I always enjoy your writing and I want to thank you for your four years of service to our community. Michael
I am yearning for the day when race is no longer THE primary discussion point on hiring decisions!
Those who advocate ending racism, which is merely one of the many forms of discrimination are either unrealistic, naive, ignorant or have an unspoken agenda.
I don't like the implications of racism (judging by skin color), but, in a free society a personal belief that skin color is a good method of eliminating competing interests is just as valid as a belief in stamping-out this crude form bigotry. Granted eliminating racism may have Nobel intentions, but the price of unintended consequences must also be scrutinized, or society risks becoming dictatorial where the few control the minds of the many.
Ending any form of discrimination, including racism is an impossible feat if for no other reason than not everyone agrees on a single topic. In fact, racism is rampant among white with whites. For instance, it is a reasonably proven thesis that we (no matter the skin color) judge one another by our physical characteristics and almost instantly determine whether we like or want to be around another person of the same color based upon clothing, physical stature, facial features, social standing, etc., etc., etc.
I saw the hideous forms (mental & physical brutality) of racism on the B'ham streets in the mid 60's when George Wallace was governor. Likewise I have seen the same forms of racism in the Louisiana bayous where the color was just the opposite.
Why not stop pretending that human nature is anything other than what it is? As they say — you can lead a horse to water, but cannot make it drink.
We can humanly embrace racism or we can blindly hide it.