The lack of Black college football coaches is still glaring, and so are the excuses behind it
I began covering college football in 1987. Nick Saban wouldn't be a head coach for another three years. Mack Brown had 11 career victories.
The first story I wrote about the lack of racial diversity among major college football head coaches ran in 1992. The number of Black head coaches in major college football that year had shrunk from three to zero. I thought the story -- actually a series of stories for The Dallas Morning News -- broke new ground. I thought college football would break new ground. I thought the new generation of coaches -- my generation -- would be judged on merit alone.
Revisiting the lack of diversity in college football coaching has become an annual chestnut of what we journalists refer to as enterprise reporting. Many of my colleagues have written on the topic. I wrote about it again at New York Newsday in 1996 and have revisited the issue more than once since then. Here it is, now 2020, literally a generation later. Nick Saban is in his 25th season as a college head coach. Mack Brown has 257 career victories. Other than Saban and Brown, there isn't much else that is familiar about college football then and now.
Offenses no longer huddle.
Defenses no longer tackle.
Coordinators make millions.
Don't get me started about realignment.
But nothing is more evergreen than the lack of diversity among college football head coaches.
This year, there are 14 Black head coaches among 130 FBS programs. Oops, Vanderbilt just fired Derek Mason this past weekend; make it 13. While that's 13 more than there were in 1992, it also means that only 10% of the programs have Black head coaches in a sport in which nearly half the players are Black, according to the NCAA Race and Gender Demographics Database. In the SEC, 61% of players are Black, and now that Vanderbilt has fired Mason, two of the Power 5 conferences -- the SEC and the Big 12 -- do not have a Black head coach. In the year 2020. And with hiring season about to begin anew, there's no expectation of much changing.
"I don't want to be hired because I'm Black. I just don't want to not be hired because I'm Black." Navy's Ivin Jasper on gaining coaching opportunities in college football
The Numbers Don't Lie
Here's a breakdown of how many Black coaches hold staff positions among the 65 Power 5 schools this season (*-ACC numbers include Notre Dame).
I began covering college football in 1987. Nick Saban wouldn't be a head coach for another three years. Mack Brown had 11 career victories.
The first story I wrote about the lack of racial diversity among major college football head coaches ran in 1992. The number of Black head coaches in major college football that year had shrunk from three to zero. I thought the story -- actually a series of stories for The Dallas Morning News -- broke new ground. I thought college football would break new ground. I thought the new generation of coaches -- my generation -- would be judged on merit alone.
Revisiting the lack of diversity in college football coaching has become an annual chestnut of what we journalists refer to as enterprise reporting. Many of my colleagues have written on the topic. I wrote about it again at New York Newsday in 1996 and have revisited the issue more than once since then. Here it is, now 2020, literally a generation later. Nick Saban is in his 25th season as a college head coach. Mack Brown has 257 career victories. Other than Saban and Brown, there isn't much else that is familiar about college football then and now.
Offenses no longer huddle.
Defenses no longer tackle.
Coordinators make millions.
Don't get me started about realignment.
But nothing is more evergreen than the lack of diversity among college football head coaches.
This year, there are 14 Black head coaches among 130 FBS programs. Oops, Vanderbilt just fired Derek Mason this past weekend; make it 13. While that's 13 more than there were in 1992, it also means that only 10% of the programs have Black head coaches in a sport in which nearly half the players are Black, according to the NCAA Race and Gender Demographics Database. In the SEC, 61% of players are Black, and now that Vanderbilt has fired Mason, two of the Power 5 conferences -- the SEC and the Big 12 -- do not have a Black head coach. In the year 2020. And with hiring season about to begin anew, there's no expectation of much changing.
"I don't want to be hired because I'm Black. I just don't want to not be hired because I'm Black." Navy's Ivin Jasper on gaining coaching opportunities in college football
The Numbers Don't Lie
Here's a breakdown of how many Black coaches hold staff positions among the 65 Power 5 schools this season (*-ACC numbers include Notre Dame).
| Position | SEC | ACC-* | Big 12 | Pac-12 | Big Ten | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head Coach | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| Off. Coordinator | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Co-OC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Def. Coordinator | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Co-DC | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Special Teams Coord. | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Assistant STC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Strength/Conditioning | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| Associate Head Coach | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Asst. Head Coach | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Passing Coord. | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| Passing DC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Running Coord. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Running DC | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Running Backs Coach | 11 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 49 |