The issue of race in sports is in the spotlight. Are minority coaches treated differently than others? Is race a deciding factor to organizations when they make personnel decisions? There is a prime example right here in Seattle with the University of Washington.
Tyrone Willingham and Lorenzo Romar were hired at the University of Washington to coach the football and basketball teams respectively. Their hiring of Romar and Willingham marked the first time that a Division-One college employed minority coaches in two major sports.
This brought national attention, which was a desirable side effect in the eyes of the administration. The administration was desperately trying to spark some excitement into both of the struggling programs. This is a fact that could not have been overlooked when making the final decision on Willingham (Romar was already the head basketball coach when Willingham was hired).
This is not to say that race was the primary reason behind Willingham’s hiring, but the desired effect was achieved. National media outlets lauded UW for the minority personnel moves. Although race may not have been the deciding factor in the hiring of Willingham, it is undeniable that race was in the equation.
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The race issue has followed Willingham in more than one of his coaching stops. Willingham was abruptly fired after three seasons at Notre Dame with a record of 21-15. Willingham’s successor, Charlie Weis, is entering his fourth season with a firm grip on the job despite a record so far of 22-15.
Notre Dame officials have denied that race was an issue in the firing of Willingham, which begs the question as to why Willingham lost his job, yet Weiss kept his even though there records were practically identical.
So what was the reason?
Willingham kept his players out of trouble and graduated nearly all of them, two reasons that would get a coach fired if he neglected to take care of either area. So it would seem to suggest that someone in power did not fit in at Notre Dame. You can only speculate that race was the reason. The national media was not blind to this fact, and they put a lot of pressure on Notre Dame to explain its position.
As a result of the negative attention that programs receive when choosing a white coach over a minority coach, I believe there is an unnecessary pressure to hire a minority over a more qualified non-minority candidate.
The pressure is a lot worse if the time comes to fire a minority coach, as in the case with Willingham and Notre Dame. It is because of this external pressure that race plays a factor in personnel decisions, whether or not the hiring officials want it to be a factor.
It will be interesting to see how the demographics change in the coaching world as a result of the combination of this race factor and the evolving media age.
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2 months ago
"which begs the question as to why Willingham lost his job yet Weiss kept his even though there records were practically identical. So what was the reason?"
No disrespect but are people really too dense to figure this out.
Same three years window:
Weis = 2 winning seasons and 2 BCS bowls which equals 30 million in ND coffers/ 1 losing season (his last)
Willingham = 1 winning season 0 BCS bowls / 2 losing seasons
Recruiting:
Willingham - #12 class, #28 class, #40 class
Weis - #8 class, #8 class, #2 class
Race had nothing to do with the decision to termine one and not the other. It was a simple bottom line look at the ledger which shows that one coach (Weis) had more winning seasons than the other. Also recruiting is the mothers milk of college football. In that aspect Weis has lapped Willingham twice.
Weis may have had a worse single season than Willingham but fans are likely to cut him slack because he's bringing in talent to their school the likes of which Ty could dare but dream.
But here's the funny thing race saved Ty from getting fired from Washington last year. Washington saw the unfair public beating that ND took for their dismisal of Willingham after three years. Despite that they were set to fire Ty. Set that is until the local chapter of the NAACP starting calling as well as PAC 10 officals who stated that it wouldn't look good for the conference to have both of their minority coaches fired in the same year.
So Ty survived but his boss the AD got fired by the school president. Ty will be gone after this year and I still suspect that some will argue that race played a factor in Washington firing after 4 seasons. And again they will be wrong. Race won't be a factor in Ty getting fired after the season. He'll be fired because he's a horrible coach who will have had 4 non winning seasons at a school that should be in the top 20 nationally.
from 2 months ago
Yes! Thank you. Someone finally ignored the media's perspective and shed some light on the Willingham-Weis situation.
To add to that: Any time a black coach is fired and replaced with a white coach, race will always come into the spotlight. Everyone will ignore the numbers and credentials surrounding each coach (thanks to the media) and focus on the fact that white replaced black. Simple as that. Is the opposite true as well? Umm, not so much. So, just like every race issue in America, the issue is generally one-sided and completely overblown.
We all obviously want to eliminate these race issues in sports - and in general - for good. But how can we when we keep assuming a black coach or player was somehow screwed and the person behind the screw job is a racist? The most ridiculous aspect of all is the fact we do this with little to no evidence and by jumping to foolish conclusions, like the Willingham-Weis debate. It always comes down to black and white, but does anyone believe the black coach or black athlete isn't getting a fair shake? Seriously? Coaches and athletes make far more than anyone should be worth and somehow we make them out to be the victim every time. Ridiculous. Give it a rest.
2 months ago
wow! An accurate rebutal! Been a looooong time since ND was treated fairly concerning TW.
2 months ago
To all the Notre Dame Folks,
Weis had his winning seasons and BCS appearances with Willingham's teams. Since he has been on his own, his teams have been laughable. Race had quite a bit to do with Notre Dame's decision. In fact, there were some ND officials that actually admitted the fact.
There were published reports of alumni and boosters demanding Willingham's head saying he didn't fit. Why not? He had the same record as Weis. The program was moving in the right direction. Weis has gone from mediocre to shameful. And, there were people outright demanding the school get rid of the Black coach.
You know, not very many people like a racist. But a racist ands a liar is just too much to take. ND had no tolerance for Ty but has for Charlie and you guys are taking about two laughable appearances in the BCS and a couple of recruiting classes long on myth and short of on-field talent.
Notre Dame is a slow, fat and unskilled football team. There is no getting away from that. The truth about the program was revealed with last year's team. However, it seems the powers-that-be in South Bend are more comfortable loosing with a white coach than with a Black coach.
Stop the excuses. I'd have more respect for you if you just said the truth. But don't try to feed me the bunch of crap about Weis' success...there have not been any.
If you are truly interested in leveling the field just listen to yourself. Can you remember when in a 'match-up' article when the teams competing had a Black coach and a white coach the advantage went to the Black coach? Can anyone tell me why Mike D'Antoni the new coach of the New York Knicks who arguably did the least with the most talent while at Phoenix actually got a raise for his ineptness while Avery Johnson, who was given a 35 year old point guard who cannot shoot and told to compete was fired? What about Doug Collins? He lost in Chicago, he lost in Washington and here he is, back in Chicago. And how about Norv Turner? Poor guy, he has lost everywhere he has been as a head coach but San Diego placed him at the helm of their team while James Lofton, a Stanford grad, Hall-of -Famer and, from all indications one hell of a coach is overlooked and although he turned the receiving corps of the Chargers around was dismissed last year.
The proof as they say is in the pudding. One last comment. Last week there was a list printed of the 'The 10 Meanest Looking College Football Players.' It did not surprise me one bit to see that the entire list was composed of people of color. Tell me would that list have been that way if the headline was 'The 10 Meanest College Football Players'? What does this mean and what does it have to do with the argument? It is relatively simple. Until you folks get over race it will always be a factor. As long as dark skin is depicted as 'mean' and 'physical' people with dark skin will never have the on-field leadership opportunities.
Think about it. Don't get defensive. It's not entirely your fault. America has been giving white people an unfair advantage since we were colonies.
Bad habits are hard to break.
from 2 months ago
Why then if Willinghams teams were so good couldn't Willingham do anything with them? If you had watched the ND teams play you would have seen wins by sheer luck and bounce of the ball, and losses that never should have been. The fact is, Weis won with Davies final recruits and when he had to play with only Willinghams recruits they were horrible. If they would have given Willingham another year to golf and not recruit the program would have been in the toilet and would have taken years to recover.
2 months ago
ND hired a black head coach and now has two black coordinators (Mike Heywood and Corwin Brown), but the media and fans of other schools want to paint ND as racist?
Give me a break. How many other programs currently have two African-American coordinators?
How many other high profile schools have hired a black head coach?
Will Washington be labeled (unfairly) as racist when it fires Willingham (with a career record of 76-76-1) after another horrible season?
Terry
2 months ago
Willingham did a huge disservice to Black coaches in his interview with John Saunders on national TV. When the marquee Black coach in college football helps play the race card, there wasn't a major university president that didn't stop an think, "...oh no". If firing a guy like Willingham brings that on, who would want to hire him or other blacks as HCs? EVERYONE in coaching gets fired at some point so do you want to deal with the race card as a College Prez?
Ty was in over his head, hired a crappy staff, refused to recruit (apparently) offensive linmen (signed four in three years???????) and was the worst overall recruiting HC in ND history.
How good do you think SC's offense would be had Pete Carroll employed Ty's oline recruiting strategy?
The trail off in wins for Weis is tied to recruiting. With Bob Davie' recruited oline in 2005, Weis play calling panicked opposing coaches - including Pete Carroll.
Ty will be fired at UW too.
Was it racist for ND to hire Willingham?
2 months ago
All his peers say Ty Willingham is one the classiest guys around. It's funny, I guess he ran a scam on the Notre Dame administration. How can a man in over his head even get an interview with ND?
Please, stop all the excuses. All you guys are coming up with are empty excuses. Like I said,it is apparent the folks at Notre Dame can tolerate loosing with a white coach. That is the apparent fact! I can respect a person who will admit to the truth not those who attempt to shade the facts with worthless trivia. Now Weis won with Davies recruits. What a laugh. If Davies recruits were so good why was he canned afterwhat, five years?
If Willingham is fired at Washington the school will not be accused of the same intolerance as the Irish (I always said it's hard to be Black & Irish) because they will have given him a five-year opportunity. You guys need to understand most people felt Willingham was not given a fair chance in South Bend.
Please spare me the ND hired this and ND hired that. The argument is that you guys ran Willingham out of town prematurely and Weis is still around even though he has the same record and the wins and losses are moving in the wrong direction.
Until you guys understand this bias it will always be in the mix.
from 2 months ago
"That is the apparent fact! I can respect a person who will admit to the truth not those who attempt to shade the facts with worthless trivia."
Ronald, the apparent fact is that I can't respect someone who spells the word losing as "loosing". Twice!
It would have been racist for ND to keep Willingham solely becuase he was black. Thet asked him to replace his staff, he refused, they fired him. UW is the racist school for treating Willingham differently based on race. If he were white, they surely would have fired him.
2 months ago
The year is 2121.
The Notre Dame football team has not posted a winning record in 100-years and their fans are stilling blaming Ty Willingham for the program's failures!
from 2 months ago
Ronald --
Enjoy your spewing your nonsense now, because Weis' last recruiting class (which, coincidentally, is a feat Willingham NEVER will duplicate at any school that hires him) is going to serve as the foundation for the re-birth of Irish football. And lets not forget, Weis only lost ONE commit from the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation during the worst season the program has had in many, many decades. Maybe he deserves some credit for this, eh? A little at least?
I only wonder if after Weis returns ND to being a program that can compete at the top level of College Football, will all of you ND haters admit that firing a coach who refused to recruit for one that lives to recruit was not such a bad idea, and maybe was motivated by more than "racism?"
Go Irish!
2 months ago
Ronnie,
Thanks for the information.
Unlike you when I am up at 3am reading and responding to stuff like this I make mistakes.
How does it feel to be perfect? Oh, you wouldn't know being a ND 'ditto head.'
I guess one reason I have trouble spelling LOSER is I don't know much about that subject. I guess you ND folks are indeed much more experienced in the concept of LOSING and are experts on the subject of LOSING.
You should be...I guess you folks have gotten used to being LOSERS.
FIGHT ON!
2 months ago
Coach Willingham was hired by the UW for the same reason Cal recently hired Coach Montgomery to take over Bears basketball. Both coaches have outstanding west coast contacts for recruiting and know how to win in the Pac-10.
There's not much chance you're going to get a Coug to defend the record of anyone at the UDub, but Coach Willingham has brought discipline to a program that was sliding out of control. Building on that, it's likely his team will improve their record this coming season based on the incoming talent to support one of the top players in the country, Jake Locker.
Coach Willingham was a good coach at Stanford and should prove to be the same in Seattle. That has nothing to do with his race.
It's doubtful that race will play a role in the administration's future decisions with coaching staff at Washington. The pressure the administration feels is from donors desire to see winning teams rather than some suggestion of societal statements. As "stag" aptly pointed out, college football and basketball are all about generating revenue these days. Winning gets that done, plain and simple.
Lew
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