Giving the NFL A Thumbs Up

Hostile

Hostile

The Duke
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The link below is to the story of the hiring of Kevin Sumlin of Oklahoma as the Houston Cougars' new Head Football coach. If you look at the title it recognizes him as the 8th minority Head Coach in NCAA Division I, now known as the FBS or Football Bowl Subdivision. There are 119 colleges in the FBS.

Therefore 8 of 119 major colleges have minority Head Coaches.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3155157

For all the attention the NFL gets for minority hiring they are really doing a very good job in comparison. By my calculations there are 7 of the 32 NFL Head Coaches who are minorities. This is counting Emmitt Thomas, recently named interim Head Coach for the Falcons after the Bobby Petrino debacle.

Tony Dungy, Colts
Lovie Smith, Bears
Romeo Crennel, Browns
Mike Tomlin, Steelers
Marvin Lewis, Bengals
Herm Edwards, Chiefs
Emmitt Thomas, Falcons

I just thought some credit was deserved.
 
StanleySpadowski

StanleySpadowski

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I think a major problem if that the NCAA has a host of really crappy jobs. A lot of white assistants turn those jobs down knowing that they'll get another shot with a better opportunity. Black assistants seem to worry that the better shot will never come so they jump on the first offer.

Ron Dickerson was a rising star on Joe Paterno's staff. Temple offered him and he jumped at the chance despite Paterno's objections. He went 8-50 or something like that and forever tarnished his image. It's much more likely that Temple lack of commitment to a football team had more to do with that than coaching prowess.

Contrast that with Greg Shiano. Paterno encouraged him to make a move to the Bears to broaden his resume rather than take a 1-AA HC gig. He stayed with the Bears for a couple of years then went to Rutgers when they agreed to make a huge financial commitment to upgrading the football facilities. It took a few terrible years to build but it was a good situation. He's now mentioned at every major program opening. Paterno's on record that he thinks Dickerson is every bit the coach that Shiano is.
 
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