NY Times Article about black coaches-R. Flanigan featured
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 4:56 pmDivision I-A Minority Hiring Still an Issue
By PETE THAMEL
Published: January 12, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 11 - The North Texas offensive coordinator, Ramon Flanigan, arrived at the American Football Coaches Association convention this week with a loaded résumé and limited options.
Flanigan, 30, is the youngest offensive coordinator in Division I-A and has impressive experience. The Mean Green has reached four consecutive bowl games, and two different running backs have led the nation in rushing in Flanigan's offense the past two seasons.
But Flanigan has received no calls from Division I-A programs about becoming a coach, and he has not even been sought out for a coordinator position at a bigger university. The seeming lack of opportunity for a black coach like Flanigan is one of the big issues hovering over college football as the A.F.C.A. holds its annual convention in Louisville.
When Syracuse hired Greg Robinson on Tuesday, the last of the 22 Division I-A openings was filled. Only one job went to a minority applicant - Tyrone Willingham at Washington, after he was fired by Notre Dame. Willingham, U.C.L.A.'s Karl Dorrell and Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom are the only black head coaches among the 117 Division I-A teams.
"The numbers were abysmally low to begin with, and they've gotten worse," the N.C.A.A. president, Myles Brand, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "We continue to have the problem of assuring the best candidates get a fair hearing in the search process."
Two percent of major college coaches are members of minorities, in contrast to 51 percent of the players. Brand said there were five minority coaches last season and eight, the high-water mark, in 1998.
The reasons for the decline vary, but one issue that coaches and administrators have identified is that minority coaches are not becoming coordinators. Croom said that perpetuated the stereotype of minority coaches as recruiters instead of decision makers.
Croom, who became the first African-American coach in the Southeastern Conference last season, pointed out that he, Willingham and Dorrell had jumped into their head-coaching jobs from the N.F.L.
Croom suggested one change: allow more graduate assistants than the current four, only two of whom can coach on the field, to create more opportunities for young coaches. Without his graduate-assistant position, Croom said, he never would have been able to be a head coach.
"I look on the outside and I see minority coaches have been restricted in the business and don't get coordinator jobs," he said. "I don't fully understand it myself."
The only call that Flanigan received recently regarding a head-coaching job was from Division I-AA Southeastern Louisiana. Flanigan was interviewed Sunday and said he thought he performed well.
Part of his confidence stemmed from a three-day N.C.A.A.-sponsored course he took last year. The course is dedicated to helping minority coaches move up. Flanigan said the course taught him invaluable skills, including organizing his philosophies and strategies into a succinct package. He gave his program-building plan to the Southeastern Louisiana administrators.
The N.C.A.A. held its second coaching academy last weekend, tutoring 20 minority coaches. "Everyone has different aspirations," Flanigan said. "I don't want to be a running backs coach at a B.C.S. school and never become a coordinator. I don't want to be labeled as a guy on the staff who can just recruit. I want to have something to do with the games on Saturday."
Dan Boggan, a former N.C.A.A. and university administrator, spoke to the 20 minority assistant coaches last weekend. He said they faced a systemic problem that involved institutional and cultural bias.
He said college football needed some coaches to stand up for their beliefs, as Georgetown's John Thompson, Arkansas' Nolan Richardson and Temple's John Chaney did in the early 1990's. He said those coaches helped open the door for more minority basketball coaches (26 percent this season) in Division I.
"I think basketball is a little less contentious than football," Boggan said. "It's not as tied into the old athletic culture. It's hard to break the old networks down. For whatever reason, football coaches have not moved up."
The Black Coaches Association executive director, Floyd Keith, suggested that recruits could be informed about the hiring practices of colleges with a history of ignoring minority candidates. "We're going to have to start shopping in our own stores," Keith said. "Why would you go play at a program that wouldn't hire you as a coach or an athletic director?"
By PETE THAMEL
Published: January 12, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 11 - The North Texas offensive coordinator, Ramon Flanigan, arrived at the American Football Coaches Association convention this week with a loaded résumé and limited options.
Flanigan, 30, is the youngest offensive coordinator in Division I-A and has impressive experience. The Mean Green has reached four consecutive bowl games, and two different running backs have led the nation in rushing in Flanigan's offense the past two seasons.
But Flanigan has received no calls from Division I-A programs about becoming a coach, and he has not even been sought out for a coordinator position at a bigger university. The seeming lack of opportunity for a black coach like Flanigan is one of the big issues hovering over college football as the A.F.C.A. holds its annual convention in Louisville.
When Syracuse hired Greg Robinson on Tuesday, the last of the 22 Division I-A openings was filled. Only one job went to a minority applicant - Tyrone Willingham at Washington, after he was fired by Notre Dame. Willingham, U.C.L.A.'s Karl Dorrell and Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom are the only black head coaches among the 117 Division I-A teams.
"The numbers were abysmally low to begin with, and they've gotten worse," the N.C.A.A. president, Myles Brand, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "We continue to have the problem of assuring the best candidates get a fair hearing in the search process."
Two percent of major college coaches are members of minorities, in contrast to 51 percent of the players. Brand said there were five minority coaches last season and eight, the high-water mark, in 1998.
The reasons for the decline vary, but one issue that coaches and administrators have identified is that minority coaches are not becoming coordinators. Croom said that perpetuated the stereotype of minority coaches as recruiters instead of decision makers.
Croom, who became the first African-American coach in the Southeastern Conference last season, pointed out that he, Willingham and Dorrell had jumped into their head-coaching jobs from the N.F.L.
Croom suggested one change: allow more graduate assistants than the current four, only two of whom can coach on the field, to create more opportunities for young coaches. Without his graduate-assistant position, Croom said, he never would have been able to be a head coach.
"I look on the outside and I see minority coaches have been restricted in the business and don't get coordinator jobs," he said. "I don't fully understand it myself."
The only call that Flanigan received recently regarding a head-coaching job was from Division I-AA Southeastern Louisiana. Flanigan was interviewed Sunday and said he thought he performed well.
Part of his confidence stemmed from a three-day N.C.A.A.-sponsored course he took last year. The course is dedicated to helping minority coaches move up. Flanigan said the course taught him invaluable skills, including organizing his philosophies and strategies into a succinct package. He gave his program-building plan to the Southeastern Louisiana administrators.
The N.C.A.A. held its second coaching academy last weekend, tutoring 20 minority coaches. "Everyone has different aspirations," Flanigan said. "I don't want to be a running backs coach at a B.C.S. school and never become a coordinator. I don't want to be labeled as a guy on the staff who can just recruit. I want to have something to do with the games on Saturday."
Dan Boggan, a former N.C.A.A. and university administrator, spoke to the 20 minority assistant coaches last weekend. He said they faced a systemic problem that involved institutional and cultural bias.
He said college football needed some coaches to stand up for their beliefs, as Georgetown's John Thompson, Arkansas' Nolan Richardson and Temple's John Chaney did in the early 1990's. He said those coaches helped open the door for more minority basketball coaches (26 percent this season) in Division I.
"I think basketball is a little less contentious than football," Boggan said. "It's not as tied into the old athletic culture. It's hard to break the old networks down. For whatever reason, football coaches have not moved up."
The Black Coaches Association executive director, Floyd Keith, suggested that recruits could be informed about the hiring practices of colleges with a history of ignoring minority candidates. "We're going to have to start shopping in our own stores," Keith said. "Why would you go play at a program that wouldn't hire you as a coach or an athletic director?"
