And then there were four.
The recent firings of Tyrone Willingham at Washington and Ron Prince at Kansas State have left the Football Bowl Subdivision with only four African-American head coaches out of 119, the fewest since 1993.
“In the world of college football, the facts and statistics reflect an unmistakable bias and a systemic problem that has yet to be fixed,” said Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches Association. “My deep concern is, why are the college football hiring practices out of sync?”
The BCA gives letter grades for schools’ hiring methods, and 16 of the 31 schools that hired coaches in FBS and Football Championship Subdivision, formerly I-AA, received “A” grades, including Colorado State. Three schools received an “F”: Mississippi, West Virginia and Dayton.
That’s way down from the 10 who flunked the previous year.
The four remaining African- American head coaches are Randy Shannon at Miami, Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom, Houston’s Kevin Sumlin and Buffalo’s Turner Gill.
Said Richard Lapchick, co-author of the study: “It stands in such contrast to the optimism a few days ago when America elected its first African-American president.”
John Henderson, The Denver Post
Sylvester Croom’s Bulldogs are 3-6 this season. Getty Images file photo
