With Barack Obama in Office, Will We See More Black Football Coaches?

For a while now, I have had President Barack Obama shoved down my throat for many reasons. Whether it is something about change or hope, it still is shoved in my face. In addition, we all remember the question he was asked by Chris Berman.

If you could change one thing in sports while in office, what would it be? Obama took the smart road and said he wants a playoff in NCAA Division I Football. That sounded good, but I knew it was just something he said to get elected.

He came out after he was elected and said he has more important things to deal with when asked again about the subject. Just another presidential promise we will never see.

Notice he said nothing about head coaches, or even African-American’s as football coaches? I wonder why…

People, especially African-Americans, love the fact that Obama is elected. That is cool, but they believe everything will change because Obama keeps talking about it. It is like they believe since Obama is in office that African-Americans are somewhat better.

They are still the same—equal to white people. White people are no better than black people.

For a while, especially recently, we have seen fewer African-American coaches.

Recently, Mr. Racist himself—Charles Barkley—came out and talked about officials at his alma mater Auburn University. He said they were racist when they hired former Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik.
 
His reasoning? He says that Chizik was under qualified and really was not the best choice. Barkley saw this and saw that Buffalo head coach Turner Gill, a black man, also interviewed for the job. He had a great year at Buffalo and was one of the better coaches over the last two years.

Although in the Mid-American Conference, he did do well and coached a team that became the MAC Champions. Because he did not get the Auburn job, Barkley called Auburn officials racist.

I can see his frustration like all Auburn fans did. But, what Barkley must understand, it was not racism— Auburn's athletic director is a complete moron. Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn head coach, actually got him the job.

So all the decisions he made while in the position had never compared to hiring a new head football coach. Tuberville was the brains of the football operations. Without him, Auburn was lost.

They had no idea that it is good to look more than a week for a coach. But with Auburn’s athletic director being uncomfortable, he hired someone he knew rather than someone he was unfamiliar with. Chizik was a former defensive coordinator for Auburn.

So there is the story. With Obama in office, many think that stuff like this will change. In my experience, you can't change stupidity. That was Auburn’s downfall—not racism as many think.

Gill also interviewed for the Syracuse job opening and did not get the job there. However, we didn't hear about that. The only reason Barkley was even believable this time with his racist comment was because of the state he was talking about.

We all know Alabama's history in the Civil Rights movement. All that happened to African-Americans was terrible, but that was 40 years ago. Most of your so-called “good ol' boys” are either dead or getting close to it.

So, you can't blame Auburn because of their history. Try asking Syracuse’s athletic director why Gill was not hired. See what he says—I guarantee it was not racism.

The fact is we do not have too many great head coaches in college football. Ty Willingham was a good coach at Notre Dame, but never really took them anywhere. He was fired and then went to Washington, where he failed to succeed again.

But we don't bring that up, do we?

See, sometimes African-American football fans want to see a black football coach despite how good he is. Only color matters. Heck, he could be terrible, but as long as the white man doesn't get the job it is a success, right?

See, sometimes the black man has the better résumé, but other times the white man does. In college football nowadays it is a what have you done for me lately place. So when a guy does not succeed, then he is let go.

That seems right, but the focus is not on that. From what I can see all the media wants to talk about it how many coaches are not white. Who cares? If they do bad, just as a white man, they should get let go.

They are equal—not above, not under. That is what the United States is about, equality. Heck, even the President of the United States is not above you and I. He has to abide by the same laws and government as we do.

People think since Obama is in office, a new breed of African-American coaches will rise from the ashes and take over. That is not true. Of course we will see great African-American coaches come up, and new coaches join teams. The thing is, they will be both black and white.

But why focus on color? It is all about success. What does it matter if your coach is black or white? If he does well, then what is the problem?

Am I out of line to think this?