Racism is a major problem in our country and throughout the world. Although times have certainly changed, and major progress has been made with regards to equality, there are still many racial issues that exist. One of these issues includes the low percentage of African-American coaches in college football.
There are many instances where racism can be found in sports. In Color Coded: Racial Descriptors in Television Coverage of Intercollegiate Sports, Rada and Wolfemeyer state, “Researchers have found that announcers are more likely to confine their descriptions, and praise, of African American athletes to statements regarding their athletic abilities and physical attributes” (68). They later state, “When announcers do refer to the White athletes’ physical accomplishments and/or attributes, they often highlight two factors: the players’ intellectual and cognitive prowess, and a strong, blue collar-like work ethic” (68). This shows that racism is even apparent in sports broadcasts, as announcers place stereotypical labels on athletes based on the color of their skin.
As for college football, it is possible that there is racial discrimination involved when it comes to the recruitment of coaches. In this ESPN.com article posted on behalf of the Associated Press, it is shown that only 3.4 percent of college football coaches are African-American. Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches and Administrators, says that the number of African-American coaches in college football is an “outright disgrace,” and that he is searching for a potential civil rights lawsuit against individual universities for Title VII violations.
In comparison to the NFL, however, the percentage of African-American coaches greatly differs. In Racial Integration of Coaching: Evidence From the NFL, Goff and Tollison state, “From 1989 to 1998, the percentage of teams with Black coaches ranged from 3% to 10%. Since the 2000 season, these percentages have increased above 10% reaching 22% starting in the 2006 season” (128). This shows that the number of African-American coaches in the NFL is on the steady increase, even though college football percentages remain extremely low.
Do you think that the low percentage of African American coaches in college football is a problem? Why do you think that the percentages differ so greatly between college football and the NFL? Is the low number of African-American coaches in college football a result of racism?
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Since the beginning of sports, race has been a major discussion area within the areas of concern. Many people can name the first black player in most of the major sports, because it was such a large turning point in not only our sports history but also within our country's history. As we see the issue of racism still exist in today's society, even though it has improved over the years, we still witness areas where we see this cause problems. I think it's very important to recognize how "African American athletes, once excluded from participating in professional and intercollegiate sports because of institutionalized discrimination, now participate in many sports at a rate that equals or greatly exceeds their representation in the population" (Rada and Wulfemeyer 65). Even though sports may have once been dominated by the white race, it has clearly changed since professional sports league began, especially within basketball and football. And with these two being two of the more popular sporting events to watch, whether on TV or in person, it it is not a surprise that racial issues comes along with this territory.
ReplyDeleteNot only is it within the players that race is discussed, but also when looking at the coaches, owners, managers, and other staff members associated within these collegiate and professional level teams. I do think the low percentage of African American coaches in the college football program is a problem, because their should be a better reflection of their representation in all areas of the sport, not just on the field. I found it extremely interesting how within the research in the Goff and Tollison article that it was found that "As with player integration, it appears that a
full generation is needed for the process to work itself out" (138). There are many areas in which race still needs to be improved on within not only sports, but our entire country. And as we have seen, especially within the past year, it takes time for these events and ideas to finally form, which could be the case of the small percentage of African American coaches in college football. Even though their is a different between college football and the NFL, they are two completely different areas that will take their own time to evolve and clearly one is moving along more than the other. As time continues, we will see racism slowly fade away in different areas, and if we are ever lucky enough, for it to completely be put into our past, which I think is highly unlikely sadly.
I agree that racism is a still a major problem in our country and around the world. I think this issue is going to be around for a long time and should still be viewed as a major issue. This issue is noticeable in the sporting industry and show not be viewed lightly. I never really noticed or thought about the lack of African American coaches in college football until this week’s readings. After looking at the articles and blog posts I now understand that this is an issue in our society.
ReplyDeleteThe questions posted in the blog bring up a lot of good questions which I do not think can be answered easily. The blog explains how there are not that many African American coaches at the college level but the number of African American coaches at the pro level is on the rise. This information is interesting however I struggled to understand why this was the case. The article Racial Integration of Coaches: Evidence from the NFL: states “Black players make up 65% of the workforce in the NFL” (Racial Integration of Coaches: Evidence from the NFL Page 13). After noticed this percentage you would think there would be a correlation between the number of African American coaches and the number of African American players. There are so many black athletes that you would think there would be a higher number of African American coaches.
I definitely think it is a problem that there are not as many African American coaches at the college level as there white coaches. I think an interesting case study would be to review the hiring process of these college coaches and to see if there are simply not enough qualified African American’s applying for the positions or there is an issue of racism in the process.
I believe that racism is still alive in this country and in sports. There has been great progress however. Recently there was a black head coach at Notre Dame (Ty Willingham) and the first SEC school to hire a black coach was also recently (Mississippi St hiring Sylvester Croom). However one thing I look at is the ratio of players who are african american to head coaches, and it's staggering that there aren't more black head coaches.
ReplyDeleteThe NFL has been using the "Rooney Rule" where at least 1 African-American candidate must be interviewed/considered for a head coaching job. This has led to many African-Americans at the very least getting interviews, thus getting their name out there to other jobs that may open up in future years. This has been very successful, there are many African American head coaches who have played prominent roles in the NFL the last few years. Such as Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh), Dennis Green (Minnesota and Arizona), Romeo Crennel (Cleveland), and Tony Dungy (Indianapolis and Tampa Bay). Much like in college the majority of the players are African American. "Black players make up 65% of the workforce in the NFL" (Goff and Tollison,138). All this points to a trend of growth in the hiring of minority coaches and bodes well for the future.
It spreads even into the reporting of sports where it seems the vast majority are white and there is an under-representation of african americans. "Throughout the history of television, African Americans and the African American community have been underrepresented in, and entirely excluded from, television coverage" (Rada and Wulfemeyer,65) I think there has been improvements with Mike Tirico being the new play by play announcer of Monday Night Football, the growth in this regard is happening. Personally my favorite announcer is Gus Johnson, an African-American who announces college basketball, the NBA, and NFL. I think like anything else in this country in terms of racism, it is getting better and with time will continue to improve.
-Nate Porter
Racism is going to always be around if its in sports or not. Yea, it has changed but definitely has a lot of room for improvement. It amazes me how there is such a low percentage of african american coaches in college football. Like Canes Guy said, you would think there would be more african american coaches with the majority of the players being african american.
ReplyDeleteAfrican American coaches are on the rise in the NFL now its time for that to happen in college football. I dont know how much coverage it will get but it will be good for the sport.
"About 77% of the players who received an announcer’s comments were African American and 23% were White"(Rada, Wulfemeyer, 74). Announcers going to talk about african americans regardless because of them being the majority, its just they have to watch some of the things they say that seem racist.
College Football needs to improve in the hiring of african american coaches because 3.4 percent is not that much. Its working out so far in the NFL since "Art Shell’s hiring by the Raiders in 1989" (Goff, Tollison, 128) so college football need to step it up.
The low number of African American coaches in college football is a huge problem. As of 2008, only 4 head coaches out of 119 positions were African American. This expands to higher levels of management as well. 92.5 percent of university presidents, 87.5 percent of athletic directors, and 100 percent college football conference commissioners were all white. However 31 out of 255 offensive and defensive coordinators in college football are African American and 312 out of 1,018 assistant coaches are African American. But why can't more be head coaches? As Turner Gill says, "Give as an opportunity and an open mind. That's all we ask." Gill is one of the four African American coaches in college football, coaching for the University of Buffalo.
ReplyDeleteIt is weird to think that the NFL has a greater percentage of African American coaches then college football. College football has over 100 teams and since 1996, there have been 199 available head coaching positions. The NFL has only 32 teams so it's a lot harder to find an open and available head coaching position. In the article, "Racial Integration of Coaching", it says "On the coaching side, the markets are quite thin with only 32 head coaching positions available in any NFL season with turnover in 10%-30% range from year to year." (Goff, 4)
Can success be a reason why African Americans aren't hired as head coaches? In the same article, it states "However, the effects for hiring Black coaches may not be so strong." (Goff, 8) This may be true in some ways because racism is still around today unfortunately and hiring a black coach could impair a lot of things with the program. If you hire a white coach it is proven to be safer because there is less blowback from university presidents, trustees, donors, and friends of the program. However it's hard to argue with success on the playing field. Turner Gill brought a University of Buffalo team that had only won 10 out of 79 games before he arrived there to a team that had won 12 games out of 29 under Gill. In fact, in 2008 they went 5-4 and were one game away from a bowl bid. In the NFL, Dennis Green and Tony Dungy were two of the most successful coaches in their times. Green had a career coaching record of 113-94 including 9 seasons where his team had a record of .500 or better. Tony Dungy had a career 148 wins as a head coach and led the Colts to 10 consecutive playoff births. He was also the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl. Since then, coaches like Lovie Smith and Mike Tomlin have had some great success.
It is still a far way away until we see more and more African American coaches, but I honestly feel that Barack Obama becoming the president of the United States could help an increase of African Americans becoming head coaches.
Is it a shame that there are so few African-American coaches in college football? Yes. With the amount of African-Americans playing the sport, one would think that more than 10% of coaches would be African-American. But according to Goff, that does matter “The backgrounds of NFL coaches indicates that past NFL playing experience is not necessarily a strong influence on the hiring of coaches; therefore, the 65% benchmark may not be relevant.” I would assume that the same logic would be used for the hiring for college coaches as well.
ReplyDeleteAre there a low number of African-American coaches because of racism? No. Don’t get me wrong, there is still racism in this country and with athletics but I do not think the hiring of coaches is affected. So much is put into a college football program; the players, the sponsors, the administration, the fans….. millions of dollars are made. I feel that if a team is searching for a coach then they are going to pick the best candidate, there is too much at stake for a person’s beliefs to interfere with the success of a multi-million dollar product.
Are there as many African-American as white men applying for these head coaching positions? I would like to see a study done on the race breakdown of all assistant coaches. It is a very complicated subject but I personally believe that at a Division 1 program, race does not factor in to who gets hired.
I do not think that the percentage difference of the amount of African-American coaches in college and the NFL has anything to do with racism. I feel that the best coach is hired for the job no matter what his race is.
I agree that even though racism has seemed to decrease within the U.S. it is still prevalent in the area of sports, mainly, basketball and football. However I am focusing more on the area of football for this blog. To answer some of Kieran’s questions, yes I think that the low percentage of African American coaches in college football is a problem. College football should not be about race, but about talent, hard work and dedication. I mean this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Nowadays, it’s stereotyped how African Americans are better athletes because they’re faster. So why wouldn’t you hire an African American coach, possibly one with these qualities as a former football star? The only other explanation I can form is racism.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I can see how the coached would have to work their way up to redeem the top spot has head coach. “Of the current 32 head coaches in the NFL, 25 were coordinators before becoming head coaches. Of the remainder, three switched from collegiate head coaching positions and three from other assistant coaching levels in the NFL” (Goff & Tollison 129). Therefore meaning that the African Americans who would like to be a head professional football coach need to get their foot in the door. This also helps to answer another question, as to why I think percentages differ so greatly between college football and the NFL, has a lot to do with the moving up process. You rarely see professional football coaches moving down and more trying to become professional coaches from the college league. However, it is common to see coaches who are not head coaches in professional leagues move down to fulfill head positions in college ball. For example, right here, the Yale Bulldogs got a new head coach this year, Tom Williams, a defensive assistant for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Television has helped develop sports across the world. “However, throughout the history of television, African Americans and the African American community have been underrepresented in, and often entirely excluded from, television coverage. When African Americans have appeared, they have often been pigeonholed into demeaning, stereotype-ridden portrayals showing them as bestial, brutish, buffoonish, comical, criminal, dependent on government entitlements or support, ignorant, lazy, menacing, oversexed, and prone to out-of-wedlock births” ( Rada & Wulfemeyer 65). This is something that I haven’t really noticed but once it has been brought up and I begin to think about it, I can understand where Rada and Wulfemeyer are coming from. It’s awkward to see all of these African American football players, but not a lot of African American coaches.
Overall, while at the beginning of this blog I mentioned I couldn’t think of another solution, we there is a possibility. Not seeing a lot of African Americans as professional football coaches might have to do with the plain ideal that the coaches who are there now don’t want to lose their job, because they are making so much money. There will be a time when those men will not be able to stop the fact that an African American is a better coach than them, and will lose their job to the better qualified coach. The next question to ask, is will there ever be a female coach in football, whether it be collegiate or professional?
Unfortunately, racism is still a serious problem and one that may never end. That being said, certain areas of society have shown large steps in the right direction. Perhaps the biggest of all coming with the election of Barack Obama.
ReplyDeleteBut we still have a long way to go, especially in the world of sports. The stat that only 3.4 percent of college football coaches are African American is alarming to say the least.
It seems college football could learn something from the NFL. The Rooney Rule requires teams looking for a new head coach to interview at least one African American candidate. Sometimes a good impression with an owner is all it takes to get the job. And the Rooney Rule gives many assistant coaches and coordinators that opportunity.
It doesn’t give them the job. They still have to earn it on their own. And that’s what makes it such a good model. It’s a fair way to start eliminating bias.
But the NFL has had its share of racial controversy over the years. For example, only a few seasons ago, Rush Limbaugh made racist remarks questioning Donovan McNabb’s ability to be a quarterback due to his race.
It’s not just the leagues, however, that should be criticized. The media shows racist tendencies from time to time as well. For example, according to Bishop, African-American athletes are criticized more by the media when it comes to contract negations and holdouts. Philip Rivers and Kellen Winslow II found themselves portrayed quite differently by the media, despite both arguing with their respective teams over their contracts. Bishop says, “journalists covering the Browns suggested Winslow was immature and was driven by greed…while San Diego sports journalists suggested that Philip Rivers was driven away from Chargers training camp by the team’s history of inept negotiating” (77).
Rada and Wulfemeyer found a similar problem among college athletic television commentators. They found that announcers focused on the physical, “natural ability” of African American players, while White athletes were portrayed as smart students who work hard in both school and sport (80).
Furthermore, they found announcers were more likely to harshly criticize the personality and character of African American players than their White counterparts. They say, “When it came time to describe African American players as people, the announcers’ criticism knew no bounds…White players, in contrast, received only positive comments” (80).
This just shows that racism is still an engrained part of our society. Until society can learn to respect all players equally, it seems as if college football’s lack of racially diverse coaching will continue.
Racism is an issue that has not seen the end of its battles. African Americans have fought so hard for their rights, yet we still see instances where it is clear that racism still exists in today's society.
ReplyDeleteIt is really dissapointing to hear that only 3.4% of college football coaches are African American. On the other hand it is pleasing to see the results for NFL coaches and that the amount of African Americans are rising. There was a good point made in the article by Brian L. Goff and Robert D. Tollinson. They wrote, "As for player supply, NFL teams draw from a pool of thousands of
collegiate athletes. On the coaching side, the markets are quite thin with only 32
head coaching positions available in any NFL season with turnover in 10%-30%
range from year to year." I found this to be an interesting point. Yes, the number of of coaches are low, but it is very infrequent to get a new coach, which is why the number of coaches is gradually increasing instead of rapidly.
I also found it interesting in television with reporters that racism was found so frequently. It is so common that when reporters describe a person, you can tell if he is describing a white or black person. James A. Rada and K. Tim Wulfemeyer say, "In sum, the results of this research show that although the doors of membership in
the once exclusive club of positive imagery have opened a bit for African American
athletes, the opening is slight, and the privileges are restricted." They say that while African Americans are getting more and more rights in sports, it is still limited.
It is hard to see that the amount of coaches in football is so low, however I see a bit of optomism. If the NFL is increasing, so will College. We need to give it time to see the adjustments because it is not a drastic change. Hopefully, if we all see the problems some day they can be changed.
I do not think that the small percentages of black coaches in college football are a problem. Being a head coach of any sport is hard, so it is not like schools are going to start giving head coaches positions to people just to fill a quota.
ReplyDeleteA coaching position is something that needs to be earned. If you take a look at most of the coaches in not only college football but even some college basketball coaches are just older men. These are coaches who have been with their schools for decades upon decades and if that is not the case than they are a coach who has proven himself and got another job. As the years go on, these coaches will begin to retire due to old age and then any coach will have an opportunity at the job. This could be the coaches who are in the system and have proven they could handle a head coaching job.
Now as the post said, there are only 3.4 percent of coaches in college football are black and again it is a hard field to try and get an established job. When coaches quit or retire, schools tend to promote from within, that is if they do not pay off another school’s coach. In the Goff and Tollinson article, titled, Racial Integration of Coaching in NFL they use the NFL as an example. But the article says there are usually around 1,600 players in the league per year, with about a 10-20% of player turnover per year. “On the coaching side, the markets are quite thin with only 32 head coaching positions available in any NFL season with turnover in 10%-30% range from year to year. Before the 2006 season, 10 positions turned over. With coaching supply, most NFL head coaches come from the existing pool of 64 offensive and defensive coordinators”. If those numbers were converted to college, more schools, more players, more coaches/positions, it is still fairly the same game and the same number of positions for hire.
Again, no I do not think it is a problem, I think over time there will be a move even field of black coaches in college football, just like how every job field will be on more of an even scale.
I’m going to have to agree with everyone that said racism is still alive in this country, especially in sports. There are still so many things going on that shouldn’t be going on. Whether it’s only having a handful of African American college football coaches, or talking bad about African American players on the TV. Those things just shouldn’t be happening. As some people mentioned, there is also racism on television broadcasts of sporting events. One example was given in the Color Coded article by James Rada and Tim Wulfemeyer:
ReplyDelete“Throughout the history of television, African Americans and the African American community have been underrepresented in, and often entirely excluded from, television coverage. When African Americans have appeared, they have often been pigeonholed into demeaning, stereotype-ridden portrayals showing them as bestial, brutish, buffoonish, comical, criminal, dependent on government entitlements or support, ignorant, lazy, menacing, oversexed, and prone to out-of-wedlock births.” (Rada and Wulfemeyer, 65-66)
Reading this quote was quite shocking. Now obviously you have to think that things aren’t that bad anymore at this time. But in a way, it can still be true. While this doesn’t have anything to do with football, it is a good example: A few years ago there was a scandal about one of the Golf channel analysts. While Tiger Woods was on one of his great runs of winning tournament after tournament, one of the announcers said that if young players want to beat Woods, they would need to “lynch him in a back alley”. Now, while that certainly sounds pretty harsh, the analyst did mention that it was taken out of context, and has since apologized. But you see that racism is out there.
For the second part of the questions, I’m not sure there’s an answer. I mean, how is it that there are so few African American college head coaches. In the NFL they had the same problems even just a few years ago, and now they’ve had either an African American head coach or owner be associated with the past 5 out of 6 super bowl teams. That’s always good to see. The Racial Integration of Coaching article from Brian Goff and Robert Tollison tried to explore the issue about head coaches in college football:
“Public and social pressures that help to break down discriminatory biases may also account for this time-based effect. However, city characteristics such as income and racial composition do not clearly indicate a discrimination explanation. Although the innovation explanation is applicable, we find only mixed and relatively weak evidence that better-run organizations (winners) have proceeded first in hiring Black managers as they tended to do in using Black players.” (Goff and Tollison, 137)
I really think we can’t get caught up in this whole issue too much. Obviously you want to hire minority coaches, and obviously you don’t want just white people being coaches. But in the end, isn’t it all about how good a coach is, rather than what color his skin is? If teams start with just hiring minority coaches, than that becomes reverse racism, as Andrew Vazanno pointed out. I think teams should just hire the coach that is the best. Whether he’s white, black, or Asian, in the end, I just want my team to win. Don’t get all caught up in racial issues. I think everyone should be equal, and everyone should have the same chance.
- Robin
While racism isn't as rampant and as blatant as it was 50 years ago in our country, there are still racial undertones and implications still felt throughout the U.S. as well as the world. When examining this subject in sports, specifically in football, a sport dominated largely by African-Americans, it is easy to see obvious disparities between the amount of players who are minorities compared to the coaches.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that the NFL has made an obvious effort to bridge this gap; as of 2007, 20% of the coaches in the NFL are minorities, compared when there were no minority coaches in the league twenty years ago (Goff and Tollison 128)
I have no problem whatsoever hiring minority coaches; I do have a problem when we are favoring a coach purely because of the color of his skin. There shouldn't be any favoritism, because that's when issues come up. If there are two coaches who are of equal caliber and bring the same things to the table, and one is white and one is black, the decision should not be made on race whatsoever, just to fill some sort of quota and promote diversity, it should be based on ability.
The media also fuel the fire. In the Bishop article, studies showed that when comparing contract holdouts between a black and a white player (Kellen Winslow and Philip Rivers), that Winslow was treated with disdain and shame by the media, while Rivers was looked upon as the victim, and the blame was put on the Chargers for poor contract negotiating skills (Bishop 77).
Do levels of racism in our country still exist? Absolutely. But I think that simply hiring a coach, or saying that because he or she is black, makes them more of an asset, only perpetuates the idea that we are separating our society down racial lines. Jobs should be given to who deserves them, regardless of race. But, I also would argue that coverage is perhaps slightly bent by the media, as shown in the Bishop article, and this is something that hopefully will change in the upcoming years.
I think the fact that there are so few African American college football head coaches proves that racism is still a major problem - especially in sports. There has been a huge rise in African American NFL head coaches recently (Goff and Tollison 128), but it hasn't translated to college football yet.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the study on how announcers have been shown to be racist and stereotypical when praising the athletic attributes of African American athletes and the intellectual capabilities of white athletes, I found a problem. In the NFL, the majority of quarterbacks are white, and therefore, have to be very strong intellectually. Most linemen in the NFL are African American and have huge body types, so of course their physical attributes are going to be praised.
This doesn't mean that linemen are not intellectual, but just that their overwhelming characteristic is their size. How can you call an announcer racist for calling a 6-foot-7, 350 pound man "strong" instead of "smart."
Anyway, back to the blog poster's final question. I think the low number of African-American coaches in college football is definitely a result of racism. Because of the increasing number in offensive and defensive coordinators, I have faith that more head coaches will emerge in the near future.
“Of the current 32 head coaches in the NFL, 25 were coordinators before becoming head coaches. Of the remainder, three switched from collegiate head coaching positions and three from other assistant coaching levels in the NFL” (Goff & Tollison 129).
Those are the facts. The number of African American head coaches in college football will rise sooner rather than later.
The lack of african american coaches in College Football is disturbing, but there really is not a good way of ensuring that there are more african american coaches. The first thing that comes to mind for me is to do a Title IX type of rule that forces the NCAA to have a specific percentage of African American coaches in correspondence to the percentage of african american athletes in college football, which was 45% in 2006. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=lapchick_richard&id=2696301
ReplyDeleteHowever, it would be impossible to figure out who has to hire the african american coaches, and who can hire a white coach. Unfortunately, what would be implied by this is that african american coaches are inferior to white coaches, which is definitely not true. It may come down to the old stereotype that african americans are better athletes and white americans are smarter. There stereotypes are bad for sports, and it is worse when announcers re-affirm these stereotypes for the masses.
In Color Coded: Racial Descriptors in Television Coverage of Intercollegiate Sports, Rada and Wolfemeyer state, “When announcers do refer to the White athletes’ physical accomplishments and/or attributes, they often highlight two factors: the players’ intellectual and cognitive prowess, and a strong, blue collar-like work ethic” (68)