Athletes, Students Have Power to Stop Racially Based Hiring

Athletes and students have the power to stop racially based hiring.  They have the choice of turning aside or getting involved in this issue and changing things.

When I first heard about Turner Gill, an Afro-American, being turned down for the head football coaching job at Auburn University I immediately wondered, who would want to go to Auburn?  Who would want to condone a situation like this?

For many years the NCAA and all its members have been aware of the shortage of minority head football coaches in division 1A, but instead of the numbers growing, they have been shrinking.  

When the 2008 season started, six of the 120 teams in division 1A had minority head football coaches, but with the recent firing of Ty Willingham(Washington), Silvester Croom(Mississippi State), and Ron Prince(Kansas State) the number is down to three—just 2.5 percent.

This week Gill was turned down for the head coaching jobs at both Auburn and Syracuse University.  Some feel his not getting either position had racial overtones because Gill, University of Buffalo's coach, was passed over for two white candidates.

Some have suggested that in the case of Auburn, it may not be that Gill is Afro-American, but rather because he is married to a white woman.

This situation received more attention when Charles Barkley, an Auburn alum, criticized his Alma mater for not choosing Gill as its next coach and said very clearly, race was the issue.

Gill has, in no other words, performed a miracle at Buffalo.  In three short years he's taken the Bulls from perennial loser to winning the MAC Championship.  Auburn decided on Gene Chizik, who has been the head coach at Iowa State, where his record was 5-19.

In fairness to Auburn and Chizik, Iowa State had its hands full competing in the tough Big 12 conference and his 5-19 record may not be a clear indication of his coaching ability. Chizik also has strong ties to Auburn.  He was the defensive coordinator from 2002-2004 and in the 2004 season Auburn was 13-0 and had one of the best defenses in the country.

Syracuse also has strong ties to their new hire.  Doug Marrone, who comes from the New Orleans Saints where he was offensive coordinator, played his college football for the Orangemen.

Bill Russell was the first minority to be hired as head coach by a major professional sports team in this country.  In the late 60's the Boston Celtics gave him the opportunity and since then the NBA has opened its coaching doors to minorities.  Currently about one-third of its coaches are Afro-American.

Baseball and the NFL eventually gave blacks and Latinos coaching opportunities and have made significant strides in opening their coaching doors.  College basketball has followed the NBA's example and recently there have been a majority of schools in the ACC with black head basketball coaches.

Our country has made progress also and this is the year we made it clear that race should not be a factor in hiring.  When we elected Barack Obama we collectively said, "No more racism."

College football hasn't made this kind of  progress. Things will start to get better when enough pressure is put on the people doing the hiring.  At most schools it's the alumni that donate large amounts of money and have great influence in coaching decisions.

What can be done to kick-start a change?   Athletes and students are the ones who can change the current trend and put more minorities into college football coaching positions!

Football programs rely on top recruits, but recruits can say no if they believe the school made an unfair hire.  Players, no matter what their race can choose another school.  They can make a statement!    

For the players at Auburn and Syracuse... they can transfer if they feel that Gill was denied the job because he is Afro-American.

There would be sacrifices involved:  Some players would have to sit out for a year if they transferred and other players might have to attend a school further from home than they had planned but if they studied their history, they would know that many people before them sacrificed their lives to improve civil rights in this country and around the world.

Athletes and students can make a difference...it's time to get involved!