ESPN has a special section for the month on its website featuring stories focusing on the impact of African-Americans on American sports. The feature story is on the woeful number of African-American head football coaches in NCAA division I schools.
The Black Coaches Association issued guidelines in 2004 seeking to increase the number of minority head coaches to 20%. They will issue a report card later this fall. There guidelines ask for a minimum of 30% of finalists, interview pool, and search committees to consist of individuals other than white males. The NFL also asked teams to interview at least one minority candidate before deciding on a coach a few years back.
I understand that the BCA and the NFL want to cure a problem. However, is this the best way to go about it? Although the suggestions by the BCA sound reasonable, what about schools like Brigham Young, which requires coaching candidates to be a member in good standing of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? Do you see a flood of minority candidates applying for that job? With respect to the NFL program, I think it a disservice to require teams to meet with minority candidates. They are saying look at this guy because he is black and not just because he may be a good coach. Many NFL teams already have somebody in mind for a coaching position before they fire the old one. There was flap a few years ago with the Detroit Tigers organization for not meeting with minority candidates before hiring Steve Mariucci.
But are there better plans for increasing minority head coaching numbers in the NCAA and in professional football? For the former, I’m not sure but I think for the NFL, they have begun to think outside the box and look at hiring more minority coaches not because they are minorities but because they are good coaches who happen to be black.
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