Coaching Staff diversity?

Submitted by wesq on

I know this won't be a popular post, but so far the coaching staff hires have been with the exception of Fred Jackson all white.  I just want the best coaching staff but I think part of that is diversity.  There is two slots left to go and I fully expect at least one hire to be a minority.  This has to be brought up in sport dominated by minority athletes but minority coaches have a very hard time breaking in.

MGoCards

January 19th, 2011 at 8:51 AM ^

But… we know for a fact that that isn't happening at the college coaching ranks. Unless you're willing to use Dr. King to explain how, by and large, the giant pool of black former players is incapable of coaching (but only in college — black coaches do very well at the pro level). 

KevbosLastingLessons

January 19th, 2011 at 10:53 AM ^

It would be interesting to see a social study on it. I'd like to see someone conduct that research without the preconceived notion that racism is involved because when you see it on OTL or Sportscenter or something, they always bring in a Civil Rights member to play the race card, which makes sense because it's a race issue. But I want to see it from a strictly numerical and social standpoint. I could sit here and give you generalizations, but that would be at the risk of being called a racist who is only making (gasp) generalizations, but I'll kind of do it anyway. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of black assistant coaches, and for the most part, they coach running backs, wide receivers, and defensive backs because that is where the majority of them played/play. Head coaches usually come from coordinators. Coordinators usually come from quarterbacks on offense. On defense, they can actually come from any of the 3 levels, including DB's, which is why Ron English was given an opportunity. I believe it's more of a study of where they played and where they coach position-wise.

Note that I said 'usually' a lot. There are exceptions. 

MGoCards

January 19th, 2011 at 11:29 AM ^

Interesting thought. I went through 15 minutes of tedium, writing a reply that combed through the 21 most recent coaching hires, checking bios for coordinator and position coach experience. Then I accidentally closed the tab. But, going by that small sample, it didn't seem to support any of your hypotheses that:

1) White HCs who were former offensive position coaches were mostly former QB coaches

2) Black HCs were most likely former defensive coaches. 

I saw a lot of coaches who had been OL, RB, and WR coaches and had never been QB coaches who had gone to OC jobs before their hires. Like I said, small sample size, and I didn't even get to finish, but no patterns like that developed over the first 18 or so. 

lilpenny1316

January 19th, 2011 at 10:56 AM ^

I don't get that from the OP.  I don't think you can question the Mattison hire.  That's a great choice.  I don't know how big a coaching staff is, but we do have Jackson and Singletary still so that should count for something.

I think the OP would at least like to see some minority candidates get interviewed.  Personally, I would have liked to see Corwin Brown get interviewed.  He played here and has been in coaching for some years now.  Plus he's a lot younger and considered an excellent recruiter.  So I would be thrilled to see him get interviewed and hired for a DB coach or another position coach.  Not because he's a minority.  But for his experience as a UM player, coach and recruiter.  He goes down as qualified regardless of color.

michgoblue

January 19th, 2011 at 8:07 AM ^

I think that in assembling a staff, it is important for a HC to fill each and every spot with the person that he believes is the best candidate for that spot.  With respect to the Mattison hire, it is pretty hard to argue that this would not the best possible hire.  Mattison has been wildly successful at Michigan, in the SEC and in the NFL.  His level of success, will make him a monster recruiter, which is something that we desparately need right now.  Simply put, there was not a better hire out there.

As for the remainder of the staff, I think it is important for Coach Hoke to bring in guys that he is comfortable working with (usually based upon prior working relationships) and guys who he believes fit with the message that he and his staff are trying to convey.  If those guys are white, black, latino, asian, Bolivian, eastern European with a bit of native american blood mixed in from their paternal great grandmother, who cares.  I trust Coach Hoke and I want the guys that he feels are the best fit.

I think that one of the greatest things about sports is that aside from a select few like the OP, sports is often a color-blind facet of society.  You can go into a sports bar and find people of all colors, races, religions and backgrounds cheering alongside one another, united by a common love of their team.  Locker rooms across the country are a place where race is left at the door and the players view each other as brother, regardless of their background ("the team, the team, the team").  Is this universal?  Of course not, and of course there are instances where this is not true.  But, sports is perhaps the most race-blind aspect of our society.  It is for this reason that I think that a person's color should NOT be a factor in making coaching staff decisions.

Black Socks

January 19th, 2011 at 1:03 AM ^

Judging from what I know about BH, I think he's bringing in the best staff he can, skin color aside.  

However you do make a point.  The guys from SDSU are who they are.  I'm sure Bedford was in the running for the DC position, but Sam Webb said there is no way he is leaving the Ville at this time.  So what do you do?  M is one of the most progressive schools in the country, so I doubt this is exclusionary hiring.

wesq

January 19th, 2011 at 1:28 AM ^

Bedford, Teryl Austin, Al Williams and Corwin Brown were all rumored for the DC position.  Mattison has the best resume, I am in no way trying to imply that Hoke is looking at this in any other way than to hire the best coaching staff he can.  That said, a lack of diversity can hurt you both in relating to your players and in recruiting.

Clarence Beeks

January 19th, 2011 at 1:33 AM ^

Mattison has the best resume, I am in no way trying to imply that Hoke is looking at this in any other way than to hire the best coaching staff he can.  That said, a lack of diversity can hurt you both in relating to your players and in recruiting.

So basically you're advocating for hiring someone with a lesser resume (i.e. less qualified) because they would theoretically and hypothetically "relate better" with the players?  So only minority coaches can relate with minority players?  I mean, seriously?  You can't be serious.

Urban Warfare

January 19th, 2011 at 11:38 AM ^

Archie said that one of the factors in selecting Ohio State was that the RB coach was black.

"[Rudy] Hubbard's most famous contribution to OSU was helping to recruit a running back out of Eastmoor High School named Archie Griffin.

Griffin said having a black position coach, uncommon in 1972, was an important factor in his choosing the Buckeyes.

"Rudy had a lot to do with that," Griffin said. "That?s not to say that other coaches weren?t great guys, as well. But no question, having somebody to identify with was very, very helpful. I had a real good relationship with him and I could ask him anything.""

http://www.buckeyeplanet.com/forum/buckeye-alumni/612181-rb-rb-coach-ru…

MGoCards

January 19th, 2011 at 12:02 PM ^

The Rooney Rule is working out fine. Are you serious?! Token interviews are hardly token interviews (unless Art Shell is involved). They usually require the media and potential employers to actively consider a candidate's merit (if only to say "this is a great coach who shouldn't be going on token interviews"). You don't think those "token interviews" helped Leslie Frazier, for instance, come to be accepted as full-fledged head coach material? Then, when his time came, everybody else had to have to token interviews in part because the Rooney Rule forced us to evaluate Frazier's merits as a coach two or three years ago. 

mgowake

January 19th, 2011 at 8:09 PM ^

Jerry Jones all but announced he was going to hire Jason Garrett but couldn't because he had to "satisfy the Rooney rule." They interviewed their own WR coach which is fine, but essentially he was taking one for the team. He knew he wouldn't end up being the head coach.

Again my argument is that the Rooney rule is insulting to minorities. There's no way in hell someone who wasn't already going to hire a black coach is like "oh yeah, well, let's scrap candidate A for this dude." Let alone a billionaire used to doing whatever he wants.  In effect the best candidate is hired anyway, making the Rooney rule basically useless and embarrassing that it really requires a token interview.

Frazier seems to be a good coach who seems to get it. It's got nothing to do with his race. I for one am not glad he's in the Lions' division.

Clarence Beeks

January 19th, 2011 at 11:53 PM ^

The Rooney Rule is working out fine. Are you serious?! Token interviews are hardly token interviews (unless Art Shell is involved).

You've got to be kidding.  "Token interviews" happen all the time.  Both ways.  The GMs almost always know who they want to hire in advance, but still have to bring in other people to interview, just to satisfy the rule.  Seriously, it happens all time time.  It's disingenous to point out the few times it's worked out successfully as evidence that it works out successfully all the time.

MGoCards

January 20th, 2011 at 10:29 AM ^

How can you say it's only worked out successfully "a few times" when its direct result has been a remarkable increase in minority hirings? I also think the "that's insulting to minority candidates" line is the one that's, by and large, disingenuous. It's telling when those who push this line  (i.e. you, as you've made it clear throughout this thread) don't even see the dearth of black coaches to be a problem at all and  don't propose any solutions at all, but then act as if the real problem is tokenism in the interview process. Certainly nobody is obliged to attend an interview when "everybody knows" who's going to be hired. 

MGoCards

January 19th, 2011 at 8:57 AM ^

Wow. I can't believe that you were posbanged for that. 

Black people are very much overrepresented in American sports. This is obviously true. Black people are seriously underrepresented in college football coaching, not only relative to the population in general but especially so relative to their population among football players. We know that qualified, even over-qualified, coaches have had a really hard time finding head coaching gigs because of their race (see: Charlie Strong) while white candidates who can be described as, at best, mediocre tend to rise to the top jobs in the profession (see: oh, nevamind). That one can try smarm away this glaring, functional, institutional racism in the sport and be posbanged says a lot.