When in doubt, cry racism
Posted: December 1st, 2004, 4:57 am
Where do I even start this? Here's the "African-American" coaches that were in the league as of September:
Tyrone Willingham - Notre Dame
Tony Samuels - New Mexico State
Fitz Hill - San Jose State
Karl Dorrell - UCLA
Sylvester Croom - Mississippi State
Update:
Tyrone Willingham - Notre Dame *FIRED*
Tony Samuels - New Mexico State *FIRED*
Fitz Hill - San Jose State *"RESIGNED"*
Karl Dorrell - UCLA
Sylvester Croom - Mississippi State
That cuts the list to 2 black coaches.
You are not African American unless you are from Africa and move to America. Am I Austrian-American? Slovak-American? Have these people even BEEN to Africa? Speak their "native" language? Have any direct link to the "old country"? HE** NO. They are American, not African-American. For the sake of this article, which is about "African American" coaches, we will call them black and not simply American, which is what they truly are. What the uproar is about over this name, I have absolutely no idea.
With that out of the way, ESPN especially (and everyone else) is making an uproar over poor Tyrone Willingham and the rest of the black coaches at the I-A level. Was Willingham unjustly fired? Decide for yourself, but the numbers don't lie. What also doesn't lie, is the fact that you know full-well what you are up against when you take a job at Notre Dame.
Let's look at these firings:
Fitz Hill - supposedly quit, but we all know what happened. Look, it's San Jose State. They get 5,000 people to go to their games! This is possibly the worst program in I-A. The guy had a few years, and they are still terrible. FIRE HIM. And they did. No cause here for talk of racism!
Tony Samuels - FIRED, and with good reason. New Mexico State was lucky enough to be accepted into the WAC. The consensus of the NMSU fans I have talked to is this: there is talent on that team, and they are never developed. NMSU was terrible this season, and previously. They are now in a position where they can advance their program, through the WAC invite. Time to step up. Justifiable firing.
Tyrone Willingham - Stupid enough to take a coaching position at a school where you cannot realistically win 12 games a season, for MANY factors. Willingham had 3 seasons, ND is terrible. They have shown signs of greatness at times, but that equals inconsistency. Inconsistency is a very good reason to give a program a tag of "bad". Notre Dame is bad. They want to move up, and are not going to stop until they either find a coach or blow up the planet. This is a completely justifiable firing. Do I agree with it? I don't know yet. I do, however, admitre the fact that Notre Dame will not accept anything less than excellence on the field. They have some issues they need to deal with in South Bend, however. The timing of the firing was bad, though.
Unless you live in a cave, you have heard about this racism crap. Everyone is saying "it's not fair". Why is not fair? You lose, you get fired. There are very few programs nowadays that will let you sit on that position while you never produce a quality team. It is getting more and more cut-throat every season. You hire the most qualified guy for the job. If he's black, hire him. White? Hire him. Indian? Come on down. It's that simple. Flooding the league with black coaches is not the answer. Having 58 black and 58 white coaches is not the answer. What are you going to do? Promote guys from high school teams into I-A coaching positions? Mark May said tonight that there's no reason Randy Shannon's name isn't coming up for these openings. Randy Shannon's name HAS come up before, and he's said he doesn't want to leave Miami. Trev Alberts decided it was a good idea to say that it's not right that all these NFL coaches are getting college jobs. It helps recruiting, dude. It also is like signing a 5 star talent instead of taking a chance on a 3 star guy already on your staff. This is a business, and the business is "win games, and do it fast", which is exactly the way it should be. It is getting to the point where you have to hire the most qualified man for the job. You move up the ladder. You start in junior high and end up in the big leagues, whether that being I-A or the NFL. These old white coaches will have to retire sooner or later, and OVER TIME the system will even out in a sense that you will have to hire the most qualified guy to compete. It's not rocket science. Putting together committees to investigate black coaches and potential candidates is absolutely ridiculous. If you want to win, you will hire the best candidate. If he's Japanese, he's Japanese. It is very very easy to cry racism non-stop. The bottom line is, they were fired because they did not produce. Even SJSU is right now committed to turning things around. They have beefed up facilities and might be on the verge of signing Neuhisel to a big deal. Who would you rather hire? Butch Davis or Randy Shannon? Who has a better chance of succeeding? Ya know, it's pretty bad when Snoop Doggy Dogg comes out and says it's bull**** that all these people are crying racism, and he said you hire the best guy for the job. Now, if a burnt-out 40 yr old rapper can see this, why can't the rest of black America?
Tyrone Willingham - Notre Dame
Tony Samuels - New Mexico State
Fitz Hill - San Jose State
Karl Dorrell - UCLA
Sylvester Croom - Mississippi State
Update:
Tyrone Willingham - Notre Dame *FIRED*
Tony Samuels - New Mexico State *FIRED*
Fitz Hill - San Jose State *"RESIGNED"*
Karl Dorrell - UCLA
Sylvester Croom - Mississippi State
That cuts the list to 2 black coaches.
You are not African American unless you are from Africa and move to America. Am I Austrian-American? Slovak-American? Have these people even BEEN to Africa? Speak their "native" language? Have any direct link to the "old country"? HE** NO. They are American, not African-American. For the sake of this article, which is about "African American" coaches, we will call them black and not simply American, which is what they truly are. What the uproar is about over this name, I have absolutely no idea.
With that out of the way, ESPN especially (and everyone else) is making an uproar over poor Tyrone Willingham and the rest of the black coaches at the I-A level. Was Willingham unjustly fired? Decide for yourself, but the numbers don't lie. What also doesn't lie, is the fact that you know full-well what you are up against when you take a job at Notre Dame.
Let's look at these firings:
Fitz Hill - supposedly quit, but we all know what happened. Look, it's San Jose State. They get 5,000 people to go to their games! This is possibly the worst program in I-A. The guy had a few years, and they are still terrible. FIRE HIM. And they did. No cause here for talk of racism!
Tony Samuels - FIRED, and with good reason. New Mexico State was lucky enough to be accepted into the WAC. The consensus of the NMSU fans I have talked to is this: there is talent on that team, and they are never developed. NMSU was terrible this season, and previously. They are now in a position where they can advance their program, through the WAC invite. Time to step up. Justifiable firing.
Tyrone Willingham - Stupid enough to take a coaching position at a school where you cannot realistically win 12 games a season, for MANY factors. Willingham had 3 seasons, ND is terrible. They have shown signs of greatness at times, but that equals inconsistency. Inconsistency is a very good reason to give a program a tag of "bad". Notre Dame is bad. They want to move up, and are not going to stop until they either find a coach or blow up the planet. This is a completely justifiable firing. Do I agree with it? I don't know yet. I do, however, admitre the fact that Notre Dame will not accept anything less than excellence on the field. They have some issues they need to deal with in South Bend, however. The timing of the firing was bad, though.
Unless you live in a cave, you have heard about this racism crap. Everyone is saying "it's not fair". Why is not fair? You lose, you get fired. There are very few programs nowadays that will let you sit on that position while you never produce a quality team. It is getting more and more cut-throat every season. You hire the most qualified guy for the job. If he's black, hire him. White? Hire him. Indian? Come on down. It's that simple. Flooding the league with black coaches is not the answer. Having 58 black and 58 white coaches is not the answer. What are you going to do? Promote guys from high school teams into I-A coaching positions? Mark May said tonight that there's no reason Randy Shannon's name isn't coming up for these openings. Randy Shannon's name HAS come up before, and he's said he doesn't want to leave Miami. Trev Alberts decided it was a good idea to say that it's not right that all these NFL coaches are getting college jobs. It helps recruiting, dude. It also is like signing a 5 star talent instead of taking a chance on a 3 star guy already on your staff. This is a business, and the business is "win games, and do it fast", which is exactly the way it should be. It is getting to the point where you have to hire the most qualified man for the job. You move up the ladder. You start in junior high and end up in the big leagues, whether that being I-A or the NFL. These old white coaches will have to retire sooner or later, and OVER TIME the system will even out in a sense that you will have to hire the most qualified guy to compete. It's not rocket science. Putting together committees to investigate black coaches and potential candidates is absolutely ridiculous. If you want to win, you will hire the best candidate. If he's Japanese, he's Japanese. It is very very easy to cry racism non-stop. The bottom line is, they were fired because they did not produce. Even SJSU is right now committed to turning things around. They have beefed up facilities and might be on the verge of signing Neuhisel to a big deal. Who would you rather hire? Butch Davis or Randy Shannon? Who has a better chance of succeeding? Ya know, it's pretty bad when Snoop Doggy Dogg comes out and says it's bull**** that all these people are crying racism, and he said you hire the best guy for the job. Now, if a burnt-out 40 yr old rapper can see this, why can't the rest of black America?