Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame's new head coach

Finally, a black man in that prized spot.

Willingham Next Up At Notre Dame

By Michael Dobie
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

January 1, 2002

Pasadena, Calif. - Notre Dame has a new football coach. No lie.

Three weeks after the resignation of George O'Leary, four weeks after the dismissal of Bob Davie, Notre Dame has come to terms with Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham. The six-year deal is worth between $2 million and $3 million per year, according to Willingham's agent. But a Notre Dame official called that figure "a real exaggeration."

Willingham will be introduced at a news conference today.

The deal as reported would be precedent-setting on several levels. Only two college football coaches are believed to earn as much as $2 million each year: Florida's Steve Spurrier ($2.1 million) and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops ($2 million).

[snip]

[Skip]

Most I've read says he should have been their no-brainer choice the first time. Hard to believe the $2-3 million figure though.

[chrisfostermusi]

Finally, a black man in that prized spot.

Why is this some damn important. No one is counting black and white players.... well maybe at Georgetown.

I would like to think Tyrone was hired due to his qualities as a coach not his skin color. I think Tyrone would like to feel that as well. To do less takes away from his accomplishments and cheapens his credibility. Is that what white America wants or Black America wants? I think niether. The fact the media hounds on this issue and presents it like an organization is bigoted for not hiring color, need look no further than the playing field where about 60 percent are people of color. If they were bigoted they would not see them there at all.

By the way, no one is comparing Ichiro to other athletes of Far East descent.

[BuzzBuzzard]

It is significant...that is why Willingham said it himself. It's significant because it is Notre Dame. It is significant because there are 4 black head coaches in all of D1-A college football.


Here is an excellent piece from today's Week in Review section of the NY Times:

January 6, 2002

GETTING WITH THE PROGRAM
The Mystery of the Missing Minority Coaches
By EDWARD WONG

The Associated Press
Tyrone Willingham of Notre Dame, one of the few black football coaches.

OPTIMISTIC phrases were flung with the vigor of a touchdown pass when University of Notre Dame officials appointed Tyrone Willingham as the head coach of the school's legendary football program on New Year's Day. Most recently head coach at Stanford, Willingham became the first black head coach of any sport at Notre Dame. Many said a door had been opened, a glass ceiling broken; Willingham called the move "significant."

But the numbers reveal that the racial imbalance in college football is still as dismal as ever. There are four black head coaches at Division I-A schools, less than 3 percent of the total. At the same time, more than half the players are black.

"This is nonsense," Earl Smith, a professor of American ethnic studies at Wake Forest University, said of the optimism over Willingham's appointment. "Other than Tyrone Willingham, there are no other black coaches at premier football factories."

Experts offer a variety of reasons why so little progress has been made, even though people in college sports have been lamenting the low numbers for more than a decade. Explanations range from the existence of an "old boy's network" among athletic directors and coaches, to the fact that black men are often passed over for decision-making positions early in their football careers, whether as a player or an assistant coach.

"I don't see the problem as being the same as it was 30 or 40 years ago, when people said they didn't want a `Negro' around," said Allen L. Sack, director of the sport management program at the University of New Haven. "It's more systemic than it is overt."

At colleges, athletic directors are usually responsible for hiring coaches. Last year, only 4 percent of athletic directors were ethnic minorities, according to a study done by the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University. The backgrounds of athletic directors play a key part because they often look to people they know to fill a coaching position, experts say. There are no strict guidelines for diversity recruiting at the National Collegiate Athletic Association or in most athletic departments, though universities often have such guidelines for faculty searches.

"Athletic directors, to the extent that they're white, generally have contacts who are also white, and they use those contacts as they engage in searches at the informal level," said Jay Coakley, a sociologist at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs who studies sports in society.

Sometimes the ceiling is built with greenbacks, not glass. Football is the biggest moneymaking sport for most universities, and many search committees are afraid that some boosters and alumni would stop giving money if a black coach were appointed. Richard E. Lapchick, director of the sports business management program at the University of Central Florida, said he had heard this reasoning used several times. "I have had discussions with people in searches for coaches and athletic directors that the final decision was made to hire a white male because they were afraid their alumni, who also happen to be strong boosters of the football program, would not contribute nearly as much or as readily to an African-American athletic director or football coach," he said.

But Mr. Lapchick said that premise may be untrue. "There are alumni who hold strong negative feelings on the issue of race," he said, "but this might be a way to have some of them open their eyes."

Another reason for the imbalance is that early in their football career, black men often tend to be in positions not on the track to a head coaching job. There are relatively few blacks who play in decision-making positions like quarterback. Black assistant coaches are often relegated to recruiting black players or smoothing out race relations rather than calling plays, scholars say.

The obvious reason for this is stereotyping on the part of white people in power, say many sports sociologists, but there could also be more subtle factors. One possibility is that young blacks might choose to pursue positions in which they have seen their role models succeed — going to the pros instead of becoming a coach, for example. The result is a cycle of self-selection.

IN contrast, college basketball programs have made considerable headway in hiring black head coaches. More than a fifth of basketball head coaches last year were ethnic minorities.

But the important differences are that a football season has fewer games and football generates far more money, so new coaches have less room for failure. (In football, black head coaches often take over troubled programs because these programs are more willing to take chances.) Another is that there have been no "breakthrough" black coaches in football like John Thompson, who molded Georgetown University's basketball program into one of the nation's best. His success opened up opportunities for black basketball coaches, experts say.

Willingham is now perhaps as close as college football has come to producing a John Thompson. Whether he succeeds with the Fighting Irish — rather than his appointment — could help determine whether more doors are opened.

[chrisfostermusi]

Then I think I will start a coalition then that addresses the lack of white players proportionate to the demographics of this country. Like you just illustrated with your article Buzz it is the media that keeps prepetuating this.

So what would putting a few token blacks in coaching postions do? Cover up a bigger problem that the media is to scared to report about?

All Notre Dame did was hire a good coach. I don't see him as black, green , red or otherwise. It is when people stop placing a significance on color that maybe this country will someday grow up.

[BuzzBuzzard]

The media does not perptuate this. It is a real, tangible problem in this country.

[chrisfostermusi]

Explain what the "problem" is if it is such a "problem"

Is your argument minorities are denied opportunity or a fair shake in this country? I beg to differ.

[TGwynn19]

Originally posted by chrisfostermusi
Explain what the "problem" is if it is such a "problem"

Is your argument minorities are denied opportunity or a fair shake in this country? I beg to differ.

If you don't consider the fact that 3% of head coaches are black as a problem then I guess you really don't see a problem at all.

[chrisfostermusi]

Why is it a problem? When I say problem, what negative effect does it have on you personally? What personal negative effect does it have on any of us? I am curious as to what your answer is.

I say that if you are going to look at that as a problem, then look at the whole problem and could do so by also addressing the disproportionate amount of "white" players that are selected by teams. This is not to be bigoted, but I find it inconsistant to fight one side of the issue and not the other. No sportswriter would dare write about the shortage of whites in the NBA or the NFL. He would be in the unemployment line the next day. NOW THATS DISCREMINATION! That is also an infringement on freedom of speech.

Personally I don't count blacks and whites on the field or on the sidelines. I get sick of being reminded of what I consider a non-issue. I say play with the best guys. No one will turn away a winner.

[Xanadu Dragon]

Just a gut feeling - but, I think this is a debate more suitable to be held in another board, perhaps. That said, I will close this thread.