I decided to write this post about a recent topic that has hit the news in which Colorado football coach Jon Embree was claimed to be fired due to race. Embree was recently fired after only his second year coaching Colorado. Ironically, these claims were not made by him but rather a former coach that is white. Bill McCartney, the former coach, says that Embree was not given the same opportunity to build up the football program that a white coach would be given. He did not inherit very much talent and the Colorado football program has struggled mightily over the last decade. McCartney even went on to state he received more than two years for a similar situation and claimed it was in large part due to being Caucasian.
This got me thinking about how this situation was handled and if it was right or wrong. Colorado did have a winless season and in a conference like the Pac-12, this is unacceptable. College revenue sports are a business and I firmly believe there is a "win now" attitude by big time institutions. From this standpoint, I can justify the firing of Embree. On the other side, two years isn't a long time to attempt to turn around a struggling football program. What I find alarming is that a former white coach came public with these remarks about race being a big issue. The following ESPN article contains a very good video article explaining what happened and possible rationale for the firing:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8685399/former-colorado-buffaloes-coach-blames-racism-jon-embree-firing
In my opinion, it is more difficult for a Non-Caucasian to get a head coaching job in the NCAA. Looking around college sports there aren't too many that come to mind and when they get hired, it is made a big deal revolving around race. Does anyone else feel this way or have a different thought?
Wes,
ReplyDeleteI do agree I think it is harder for any minority coach to be hired than a white coach. This is very surprising though considering how many minority athletes we have on teams. It is tough to change this though because even though you can implement a rule that they have to interview a black coach (Rooney Rule), it does not mean they will hire them. Going back to if the Colorado coach was fired because of his race I think is a little over the top. He went 4-21 in his two seasons, winning three conference games. While he maybe should have been given a little longer leash I think saying he was fired because of his race is a extreme.
Josiah Blevins
I don't think he was fired because of his race. I feel like there was more to it, he wasn't wining games and even though the program was rebuilding you have to show some kind if progress. I don't think the administration saw that progress at all. Yes, the progress wasn't all about wins and losses it could have been in a ton of other things too. I also believe he could have been fired just so that the school could say they are trying to find the best and make change. In the end they have to keep trying to get people to the games so the feeling that the program is trying to get better can mean a lot.
ReplyDelete-Tim Love
This topic is new to me and it is very interesting. Maybe McCartney received more than two years because the program was getting better in certain areas. Personally, I think that two years isn't a long enough time to see a lot of progress for a football team. The situation could have been that Embree just wasn't what the Colorado football program was looking for. Sports teams do make mistakes hiring coaches sometimes, just like the Lakers with Mike D'Antoni (in my opinion). Depending on what Colorado's record was, I think Embree should have gotten one more year to improve. But like you said, College sports is a business and every program wants wins. I do think it is a little different that McCartney was the one that brought up Embree getting fired because of his race and that McCartney received better opportunity because he is Caucasian. I have never heard of a former coach saying something like that, but everyone has their opinions. However, I don't necessarily agree that he got fired because of his race. I completely agree with Wes that it seems like it is more difficult for a Non-Caucasian to get a head coaching job in the NCAA. I haven't really thought about it, but there are a high percentage of Caucasian head coaches in the NCAA compared to other races.
ReplyDelete-Kody Burlingame
I agree that it is very difficult and harder for minority coaches to be hired over a white coach. Just because a minority coach is being interviewed doesn't mean he gets the same consideration as white coaches. I also think part of the problem is the lack of success of minority coaches, especially in college. When you think of some successful minority coaches all the names that come to mind are NFL coaches like Mike Tomlin, Herm Edwards, and Lovie Smith. There has not been a successful minority coach in college football to pave the way for others. However, I think Charlie Strong, the coach of Louisville, has an opportunity to be that guy. He has been linked to a couple of the vacant SEC jobs, and if he goes to Tennessee or Arkansas and is successful it will open the door to more minority coaches. As far as the Colorado coach is concerned I think 2 years is a bit short to turn the program around, but he was 4-21 in two seasons. And another thing that should be mentioned is recruiting. If he cannot keep the top players in state, or convince recruits to come to Colorado then I think 2 years could be a justifiable firing.
ReplyDelete-Derek Brewer
Wes,
ReplyDeleteI don't believe he was fired do to race. College football is taken very seriously, and if you don't prove that you can coach, or that players believe in you, you're gone. Gene Chizik is a perfect example, he WON the national championship two years ago and now he is fired. Half of the SEC conference is expecting to dominate, and realistically it can't happen. So far Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn, and Tennessee all fired their coaches. Thats a quarter of the conference. I don't think race plays a factor and Embree wasn't able to produce. Colorado went 1-11 and was ranked 120th in scoring and 124 in points allowed, which averaged out to a 18-46 point beating every time the Buffalos took the field.
-Brett Creamer
I don't think he was fired because of race, however I do agree that it is harder to find a coaching job as a minority. I liked Josiah's comment about how the lack of minority coaches doesn't match up with the number of minority athletes. These athletes are smart and strong and would make great coaches and leaders. I do also think two years is a little fast to fire someone, but with that poor of a record I think the program was getting anxious that no change was happening. Had his termination been more obviously caused by his race, I think this would have been a bigger deal and a huge ethical controversy for Colorado.
ReplyDeleteJenn Zoellick
I think he may have been fired for not having a successful run like he was supposed to have but since he was a minority coach they found they reason to be because of his race. There is a lack of minority coaches compared to the number of minority athletes and why is that? I believe they are not given the same opportunities as white coaches are. GM and Owners of professional teams do not look for a minority coach in my opinion because they believe they can run a program as effectively as a white coach could. It takes time to build a program up and be successful and Colorado never gave him a chance to do that.
ReplyDelete-- Jenny Kelley
I agree that it is probably harder for a non-white person to be hired for a coaching position, but for this particular case I do not think that is why the coach was fired. I believe he simply wasn't getting his team to perform the way administration expected, which relates to how you said a "win now" attitude. When any new coach for any sport, especially revenue based, is hired, improvement must be shown and no progress was made here which is why I think he was fired. Also, any coaches job is at risk when you go win-less because that is just unacceptable.
ReplyDelete-Joey D'Agostino
I think it's harder for a non-white to get a coaching job in the NCAA, but I am extremely skeptical in thinking that there is inherit racism and discrimination when it comes to white coaches always being hired for coaching jobs. Are athletic directors and administrators really that racist/prejudiced/discriminatory that they purposely don't hire minority coaches and/or have to put a rule in place to require that a minority candidate be interviewed? I don't buy it.
ReplyDelete-Kevin Meyers
I think it is harder for minority coaches to get hired at the collegiate level, like most people have said so far, but the most alarming thing to me about this situation is that once an african-american head football coach is fired, only one has been hired at the same position in the last 40 years and that was Ty Willingham (the former Notre Dame head coach). It is obvious that minorities are not given the same opportunities as a white coach, which is unfortunate especially during this day and age at a learning institution where tolerance and equality are preached.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Hetrick
Minority coaches do seem to take a lot more pressure to succeed early and often, alluding to Ty Willingham at Notre Dame or even Joker Phillips at Kentucky. However, there are minority coaches that are making hot commodities like Charlie Strong at Louisville. Every program has a win now attitude and even though Colorado wasn't doing the greatest, I do believe that Embree deserved at least another year or so to see what his recruits were able to do. Regardless of race, universities like Colorado that don't have the recruiting prowess of an Alabama or Notre Dame need to learn that coaches need time to build a program, it's not going to happen every year like the bigger name schools. However, a lot of ADs around the country are regretting not hiring Charlie Strong, so I think opinions of minority coaches are changing
ReplyDeleteNate Dudzik
Unfortunately this seems to be the case still at the collegiate level, but I'm starting to see more Non-Caucasian coaches being hired at the professional level. Individuals like Eric Spoelstra, Mike Tomlin and Ron Washington are prime examples of this. While these individuals do coach at the professional level, Caucasian is still the dominant race among coaches. I believe as time goes on this will continue to evolve into a more diverse profession.
ReplyDelete-Michael Discipio