Getting Priorities Straight

As you may know, the Auburn University football program is currently without a head coach. After a fairly successful 10-year stint on the Plains, Coach Tuberville decided to resign after posting a disappointing 5-7 record this season. There were also several other coaches in the country who either resigned or were terminated at the end of the season including, most notably, Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom.

The reason Croom's termination is worth mentioning specifically is that his firing caused some in the media to reignite the "controversy" over the insufficient number of blacks who are employed as head coaches at major collegiate programs.

When I first saw the announcement being made on tv, the commentators were becoming hysterical and nearly foaming at the mouth as they threw out statistics about how few black coaches there are compared to black players. Their indignation over this apparently tragic dilemma was made obvious by their gross displays of pity being laid on the black man for not having the same advantages as the white man does in this job market.

Their assumption, however, is completely untrue.

This issue is something that should never even be mentioned in the first place due to the baseless reasoning used to support it. It's not as if any program is intentionally avoiding hiring a black guy to lead their team. If a coach could win games and be a good ambassador for the program, most institutions wouldn't care if he was black, white, green or even polka-dotted. Of course the media is fully aware of this fact, but they wouldn't have any pot to stir if they were to just admit this.

As a matter of fact, the black head coach at Buffalo, Turner Gill, has won games and made considerable improvements to the program he inherited at that school. As a result, he is receiving vast amounts of interest from other more historically prestigious schools around the country, including Auburn University. These schools don't seem to care what color his skin is. They just want a good coach, and he has proven to be just that so far.

Would I have a problem with Auburn hiring a black guy as the head football coach? Not at all! Would most football fans have a problem with a black man holding this position? I seriously doubt it. Would they or I have drawbacks if he didn't win games or run a clean program? Of course we would. I wouldn't care if E.T. was our coach if he produced results in the win column and encouraged kids to graduate. I can't help but feel most fans, alumni, and administrators feel the same way on this issue.

Side Note: Turner Gill is currently my personal favorite to fill the vacancy at Auburn. His record at Buffalo is probably proof enough, but I also like his comments in this video (especially at 2:13).