Racism in Sports: A Look at Willie Randolph and Other New York Coaches

In 2004, Edwards put an emphasis on working a little harder in the offseason, as he had been criticized for being soft during training camp, leading to slow starts. With an easy early schedule, the Jets jumped to a 5-0 start, but they ended up only 10-6. In the first round of the playoffs, the Jets played a memorable game against San Diego, beating them on the road in overtime after Nate Kaeding missed a field goal in overtime, allowing Doug Brien to win it for the Jets.

While the media and fans had been relatively light on Herm until now, his poor clock management and in-game strategies became hard to ignore in the AFC Divisional Round against the 15-1 Pittsburgh Steelers. Brien had missed a 47-yard field goal off the crossbar earlier, but when a David Barrett interception gave the Jets another chance to score, Edwards conservatively played for the field goal, running the ball and taking a knee, leading to another Brien missed field goal, this one from 43 yards. When Pittsburgh won in overtime, the fans and media were all over Herm for good reason.

In 2005, injuries set the tone for the season, with Pennington, backup quarterback Jay Fiedler, Wayne Chrebet, Curtis Martin, Chris Baker, Kevin Mawae, and Jason Fabini among others all suffering season-ending injuries.

Herm was left with little talent, but rumors were swirling towards the end of the season and into the offseason that Kansas City president Carl Peterson wanted to hire him to replace the retiring Dick Vermeil.

Edwards attempted to get a pay raise from the Jets, using Kansas City as leverage, but the Jets weren't too happy with him. After all, each of the last few seasons had ended on frustrating notes, and his weaknesses were becoming more and more clear. The fans had turned on him, and both the Jets' brass and the media had begun to turn on him, so he left for Kansas City in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick (used to take Leon Washington).

Edwards is a terrible example by Randolph because there were plenty of reasons to not like the work he did, and the media still loved him for a long time. His inexperience as a coach or coordinator was blatantly obvious at times, and there were plenty of examples that point to his being outcoached in games.

Then he tried to stab the Jets in the back by openly conspiring to leave with Kansas City, and he got his wish. So Willie, where exactly did the media treat him incorrectly? He barely made the playoffs a few times, and the media adored him. His problems were based on inexperience, ineptitude, and inability to be aggressive.

Isiah Thomas

Do I really need to explain this one? Let's just look at some of the moves he made as coach and president.

• Was involved in the hiring, firing, and buyout of Larry Brown as coach
• Went 56-108 as head coach.
• Missed playoffs each of last four seasons.
• Still owes an unprotected 2010 first round pick to the Jazz (via Phoenix) from the awful Stephon Marbury trade.
• Gave $30 million to Jerome James.
• Traded two, lottery draft-picks in exchange for Eddy Curry.
• Gave mid-level exception to Jared Jeffries.
• Allegedly helped instigate Knicks-Denver Nuggets brawl in 2006.
• Defendant in sexual harassment case involving Knicks front office.
  
• Traded for Zach Randolph.
• Accepted multiple other bad contracts in trades (Malik Rose, Jalen Rose, Steve Francis, Penny Hardaway, Jerome Williams, Maurice Taylor).

Scott Layden left him an awful situation, and while he did make the playoffs at 39-43 in his first season as president, the Knicks were swept out of the playoffs by the New Jersey Nets. After that, his reign of terror was simply a long sequence of disaster after disaster. The media was all over Isiah, but the Knicks have been the laughingstock not only of the NBA, but also of all of professional sports. The Knicks have symbolized ineptitude, with the highest payroll and one of the lowest win totals in the 21st century.

Willie, racism is a factor in America and across the world. It's a sad fact of life, but it is not going to go away anytime soon. But the sports world is a meritocracy. If you want to get the media off your back, first get above .500, and then make up for 2006 and 2007 by getting to the World Series. Until then, white or black, the media has every right to criticize coaches when the results do not meet expectations.

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