The simple way to give you the answer to that question is this ratio: 3/117 or 3 out of 117 coaches in division 1-A football are black. A simple inference from that ratio is that there is no racial equality whatsoever in D1-A college football. That number in this day and age is appalling. The country has finally elected an African-American president and yet schools cannot hire a black head coach?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that every black coach should eventually be hired. A coach (no matter what the color of their skin) should only be hired if they are qualified for the job.
The hire that got everybody (including myself) fired up about this topic is the recent hiring of Gene Chizik by Auburn, which has become better known as the rejection of coach Turner Gill. Chizik is an Auburn man but he is not nearly as qualified as coach Gill, who has just led the Buffalo Bulls to their first ever bowl appearance. Yes, the football team at Buffalo, who has been one of the worst teams in the nation for years, is going to a bowl game.
Another case we have before us is Charlie Weis, who has spent the same amount of years at the helm of Notre Dame as Tyrone Willingham, and they both have had the same results. The only difference between the two is Willingham got fired.
I don’t care what the circumstances, 3 out of 117 is absolutely pathetic. College football needs to come up with their own version of the NFL’s Rooney rule and make sure that an African-American candidate is interviewed for every head coaching position.
Division 1-A college football is already in a mess because of the screwed up BCS (also known as the Big Crappy System) rankings. This coaching dilemma has been around for a long time, but it has been gaining much more national attention the past few years. If the head honchos don’t do something soon, the great game of college football may come crashing down from the pedestal it has been put on.
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