Coaching Staff diversity?
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.
January 19th, 2011 at 9:35 AM ^
I would jizz in my pants, on my work computer, and on my boss. I'd be unemployed, but damnit, I'd be happy on Saturday afternoons.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:04 AM ^
shut up. Mary Sue can pick up the slack among the rest of the 55,000 students.
I'm with you: problematic. But football is an old boy kinda thang. Look at the Hoke hire. The inbreeding jokes no longer stop north of the Mason-Dixon.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:05 AM ^
I agree... so let's hire Mike Hart now and give him title of Coach-in-waiting (2025). That will resolve all issues.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
I'm just going to say it - if someone we're recruiting doesn't think our coaching staff is good because we have too many white people I don't want them... The street goes both ways - obviously Denard doesn't have a problem with Hoke and a number of players that aren't white are saying Hoke is a really good guy and they look forward to playing for him. If you're deciding which school to play football at and the color of the coach is involved in your decision I dare say that you are, in fact, part of the problem.
I'm from BFE Ohio and I had a black coach (I'm white) and I don't ever recall thinking "well, this guy isn't white so he obviously doesn't relate to me so despite the fact that he's a good coach I'm just going to ignore him." Yeah, like I said, if the diversity of the coaching staff is more important than the quality of the coaching staff that recruit can go somewhere else - we're here to win, represent the University in the best way possible and grow to be intelligent, strong men that our parents can be proud of. In no way does the color of the skin of the members of the coaching staff have any impact on any of those things.
January 19th, 2011 at 1:08 PM ^
the color of the skin of the coaches. Your windy response almost willfully fails to address the post. Of COURSE no one gives a flying fandango that Hoke is white. But if everyone is--aside from the morality--you may have an image problem. And if you don't think that black kids want to see some people they can connect to on a coaching staff, you are dreaming.
January 19th, 2011 at 1:47 PM ^
And if you don't think that black kids want to see some people they can connect to on a coaching staff, you are dreaming.
Can black kids only connect with black coaches?
January 19th, 2011 at 2:39 PM ^
characteristics, however, and like all of us like to see some faces like theirs around them. That's really not SO hard to wrap a brain around. (I say this as the father of a black kid.)
January 19th, 2011 at 2:46 PM ^
This is the question that nobody seems willing to acknowledge.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:26 AM ^
This thread is so f-in useless. Just cuz we want to hire the best coaches available and didn't interview minorities mean we're racists. Get off your high fucking horse.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:45 AM ^
So don't show your ignorance if it's not needed.
January 19th, 2011 at 11:39 AM ^
He didn't call anyone racists, but when this subject comes up it has to be discussed. I agree with the above comment. This thread is worthless. You hire the best candidates or people who you think fit best with the culture and direction of a program. Race has nothing to do with this at all.
Examples: would I hire any other RB's coach over Fred Jackson? Hell no, he fits perfectly and has a great resume.
Would I hire a different DC than Mattison? Out of the candidates up for the running, hell no. He has the best resume and coached here before. He gets what Michigan is about. (NFL DC, Florida DC, Notre Dame DC, Michigan DC...no one else that was up for the position has this kind of track record and proven success at every stop).
Al Borges, he brings continuity with Hoke (which is huge for transition and preferred offensive style), has a great resume with 20+ years of experience at numerous BCS schools, etc.)
They were all chosen because of specific reasons, none of which had race as a factor.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
I think everyone is curious as to who those candidates were. We had to go based on rumor and speculation, especially with the DC hire. Regardless of the race issue, we had no idea who the candidates were.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:32 AM ^
The main concern for me is recruiting, and my concern has a lot to do with the age of our staff as well. A staff of primarily old, white guys is going to have a tougher time competing for recruits for a number of reasons.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^
You mean because recruits will confuse them with all the other staffs of primarily old white guys?
January 19th, 2011 at 10:49 AM ^
Perhaps, but so would a staff of Buddhist monks from Tibet.
Coaching a top ten NFL defense is a great way to bridge the gap between old white guy and prospective college football player.
January 19th, 2011 at 11:29 AM ^
That's why Miami, (FL edition) is going for their 5th national championship in a row under Randy Shannon.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:44 AM ^
Let's also start with the fact that Chris Singletary is our recruiting coordinator. He's a part of the staff, yes?
Also, I still think another minority hire would be a good thing. The problem is that many people read "we should hire more minority candidates for coaching positions" as "If you don't hire another black guy, I'm gonna call you a racist in public."
They're not the same thing. Should we hire another minority candidate? Probably. But if you ask an African American coach, "Hey, why do you want to be hired for a coaching position?" I guarantee you that "Because I'm Black" is not going to be the answer.
January 19th, 2011 at 11:02 AM ^
But if you look at the RichRod and Lloyd Carr coaching staffs, they were very diverse. Look at our position coaches all these years. There was good diversity. Ron English and Fred Jackson also served as coordinators. I believe Jackson was even assistant head coach at one point.
This University went to the Supreme Court to defend their beliefs in having a qualified, diverse student population. And that belief trickles down to the athletic department.
I know you're not calling out Hoke or the AD as racists. Some people are jumping on the wrong argument. But I believe Hoke wants to win and will find who he thinks are the best choices regardless of skin color. That's all we can ask of the man. Oh, and I truly appreciate them not interviewing minority candidates just for show. That's worse than what's going on now.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:44 PM ^
This University went to the Supreme Court to defend their beliefs in having a qualified, diverse student population. And that belief trickles down to the athletic department.
I think it would be more accurate to say that the University went to the Supreme Court to defend their method of ensuring a qualified, diverse student population.
January 23rd, 2011 at 12:57 AM ^
yes this is an issue...but connections are important here and everywhere. If Ron English was winning MAC championships- he would have been the top HC candidate regardless of race.
Tyrone Nix is an up and coming talent that doesn't get much talk - but not only is coaching insular - it's regional as well. Nix as a DC just wouldn't have worked on many of the levels that Mattison does.
The fact that Mattison is better qualified begs the "Content of Character" take rather than supports it.
I don't think racism was a factor in making these hires at all (I don't have any insight into this process however.) These sort of questions are the shadow of the moral zeitgeist. This will look different in a couple hundred years.
Rapport with recruits is going to be driven by success on the field. Players want to win. So do I. Let's get back to that.
January 19th, 2011 at 11:25 AM ^
Typical Michigan fans. Always something to bitch about. Lack of diversity? Really?
You hire the best available people. Sports is the best equalizer when it comes to racism, prejudice, discirmination, etc, because you are "typically" judged based on your merit and not your race, nationality, age, etc. Although this is not always true, I highly doubt Brady Hoke is hiring the white guys because he likes the color of their skin more (I know thats not exactly your point, but you get what I mean).
I'm actually pretty peeved about this thread because I think that people that bring up race in situations that it does not need to be brought up are assholes. We don't have more minority coaches right now, just because the chips did not fall that way right now. Chill the fuck out. I'm a white guy, and if we had the opposite on our coaching staff right now (minorities being the majority), do you think I'd be bitching about hoping Hoke finishes up the staff with white guys so he can "relate" better to the white players? Fuck no I wouldn't be.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^
It's really hard for me to take it seriously when people say "man, people bringing up race just really harshes my mellow. Let's not talk about it any more."
Race very clearly matters, not only in society at large, but specifically in the hiring of college football coaches. The fact that it makes so many people angry and uncomfortable to even discuss would seem to speak to its pervasive significance as well.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^
Race very clearly matters, not only in society at large, but specifically in the hiring of college football coaches. The fact that it makes so many people angry and uncomfortable to even discuss would seem to speak to its pervasive significance as well.
I'm pretty sure that it's not "race" that makes people angry and uncomfortable.
January 19th, 2011 at 6:35 PM ^
It has nothing to do with race being brought up and me not wanting to talk about it. It has to do with people bringing up race as if its an issue in this particular instance. There is absolutely no issue of race at Michigan and its football program at all.
If you want to talk about the greater landscape of college football, than fine, but I still think its a difficult issue to pinpoint a cause and an affect.
The OP is an idiot for bringing this up because A. he is basically insinuating that Michigan is not diverse (i.e. possibly discriminatory), and B. that we should fill the final coaching slots with African Americans or other minority candidates just for the fact that they are minorities.
I'm sorry that is the worst possible reasoning that I can think of. Choose the best candidate. This is not a Turner Gill and Auburn type situation. Michigan is choosing people that best fit the culture, have the best resume, and will give Michigan football the best possibility for present and long term success.
January 19th, 2011 at 1:48 PM ^
The OP didn't get enough of what he wanted by posting this on Scout the other day so he came here with it.
But it's a good topic, one that should be addressed. One thing I like are the answers delivered by what has to be white guys: The old, "hey, diversity is great if it's qualified"--as IF black players and coaches didn't have to deal and don't continue to have to deal with being judged solely by the color of their skin. And as IF they didn't have to face about 400 years of being bent over by white America.
January 19th, 2011 at 2:12 PM ^
If some of our recruits still have eligibility left I'm still fairly certain I don't want a 400 year old man on my football team... /s
January 19th, 2011 at 3:24 PM ^
so far the coaching staff hires have been with the exception of Fred Jackson all white.
Don't forget our recruiting coordinator - Chris Singletary. And we've got a couple of spots to fill still.
January 21st, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^
a lot of people are missing the point. Of course, a person should be hired purely on merit, merit in terms of what is best for the team. save me your statements about how "oh i don't care if they are green, purple or blue the best man should get the job."
the point of debate here is, in a sport dominated by black kids, would a recruit or a current player feel more comfortable seeing a more diverse coaching staff?
i believe the fact of the matter is yes. now that in no way means only black coaches can relate to black coaches or that all black players are from the hood and can't relate to white coaches. however, you can't deny that is in the stigma of black players. whether you want to deny it minorities that grow up in predominantly minority neighborhoods relate better to their own race.
and in that sense, it is preferable to have diversity on a coaching staff as a benefit to the team. of course that should be a secondary criteria to a coaches ability to, you know, coach. but it should be factor because it will help recruits and players.