STrib: With all-white leadership, Gophers athletic department under fresh scrutiny to improve diversity; Coyle has hired 11 white head coaches

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The University of Minnesota has gone 14 years without hiring a person of color as a head coach and remains the only Big Ten institution without a single person of color in the role of president, athletic director or head coach.

With men's basketball coach Richard Pitino's tenure likely nearing an end, the Gophers' lack of diverse leadership is drawing renewed scrutiny. Even before the speculation about Pitino's future, Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren had noticed how the university's president, Joan Gabel, athletic director Mark Coyle and all 19 head coaches are white.

"They're aware," Warren said of Gabel's and Coyle's recognition of Minnesota's diversity gap. "I trust them. And I trust that they will always be focused on doing the right thing."

In the midst of renewed calls for racial equality after George Floyd's death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May, the Gophers have fallen behind their peers in diversity hiring.

Since Coyle came to the Gophers in 2016, he has made 11 head coaching hires, including for revenue-generating teams football and men's hockey as well as programs such as wrestling, softball and women's basketball. All are white. The Gophers haven't hired a person of color at head coach since Tubby Smith in men's basketball in 2007.

"I would argue that we've done many things that are visible to the outside world," Coyle said. "If you look at our football program and putting 'End Racism' on our football jerseys for the Purdue game, highly visible, national audience."

www.startribune.com

With all-white leadership, Gophers athletic department under fresh scrutiny to improve diversity

Athletic director Mark Coyle has hired 11 white head coaches in his tenure.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 

Dennis Gates will get the basketball job if Dennis Gates wants the job.
Equally as qualified as anyone else looking at the job.

Brings diversity to the athletic department.

No brainer.
 

This is always a tough one. Diversity hiring is very important, and the ratios are not where they should be across the country, but in the end the most important thing should be hiring the candidate you feel is the best fit for the job regardless of race.

For example, assuming the basketball job comes open in a few days, we shouldn't eliminate possible candidates simply because they are white. In the same way that we shouldn't eliminate possible candidates simply because they are black.

Coyle has hired 11 white coaches and no minorities. The question is, did he pass over qualified minority candidates based on the color of their skin? If he did that, then that would be 100% wrong. But his career is tied in large part to the success of the coaches he hires. So he shouldn't be required to pass on the person he feels is the best person to lead a program because of their skin color.

Brian Dutcher's name has come up in association with the possible basketball opening. He would be a great fit here for a lot of reasons. Should he be excluded from consideration because he is white?
 

MNVCGUY said:
This is always a tough one. Diversity hiring is very important, and the ratios are not where they should be across the country, but in the end the most important thing should be hiring the candidate you feel is the best fit for the job regardless of race.

For example, assuming the basketball job comes open in a few days, we shouldn't eliminate possible candidates simply because they are white. In the same way that we shouldn't eliminate possible candidates simply because they are black.

Coyle has hired 11 white coaches and no minorities. The question is, did he pass over qualified minority candidates based on the color of their skin? If he did that, then that would be 100% wrong. But his career is tied in large part to the success of the coaches he hires. So he shouldn't be required to pass on the person he feels is the best person to lead a program because of their skin color.

Brian Dutcher's name has come up in association with the possible basketball opening. He would be a great fit here for a lot of reasons. Should he be excluded from consideration because he is white?
Click to expand...
Considering the social climate around Minneapolis, there is no other candidate who could be a better fit out of those mentioned than Dennis Gates.
 

Face The Facts said:
Dennis Gates will get the basketball job if Dennis Gates wants the job.
Equally as qualified as anyone else looking at the job.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with you. I think more important than THIS:

"In the midst of renewed calls for racial equality after George Floyd's death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May, the Gophers have fallen behind their peers in diversity hiring."

IS THIS:

"'They're aware,' Warren said of Gabel's and Coyle's recognition of Minnesota's diversity gap."

The "diversity gap," sometimes called the "achievement gap," is something that has been talked about a lot in Minnesota higher education circles over the last few years. Despite Minnesota having a relatively high standard of living among US states, Minnesota has a pretty high "diversity gap" relative to other states and state higher education institutions have been instructed to make plans to address that.
 


If you look at the head coaches Coyle has hired, the only two sports where there are a good number of black candidates are women's basketball and football. And in both cases, it's hard to argue that Coyle could have hired a minority candidate who was a better fit for Minnesota than Whalen and Fleck. Obviously Whalen has struggled some, but for our program, at the time she was hired it was a no-brainer. I don't know of many POC candidates for men's hockey, and I have no idea either way on softball.
 

Face The Facts said:
Considering the social climate around Minneapolis, there is no other candidate who could be a better fit out of those mentioned than Dennis Gates.
Click to expand...
I'm inclined to agree with you on a lot of levels. And if it turns out that Gates is the guy that would be awesome. I just don't think we should be sorting the candidate pool based on skin color.
 

cjbfbp said:
Despite Minnesota having a relatively high standard of living among US states, Minnesota has a pretty high "diversity gap" relative to other states and state higher education institutions have been instructed to make plans to address that.
Click to expand...

That's a tough one to accurately assess, though, as I strongly suspect MN has relatively more first-generation children of color compared to most states.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Coyle has hired 11 white coaches and no minorities. The question is, did he pass over qualified minority candidates based on the color of their skin? If he did that, then that would be 100% wrong. But his career is tied in large part to the success of the coaches he hires. So he shouldn't be required to pass on the person he feels is the best person to lead a program because of their skin color.

Brian Dutcher's name has come up in association with the possible basketball opening. He would be a great fit here for a lot of reasons. Should he be excluded from consideration because he is white?
Click to expand...

I don't think you get it. To address the "diversity gap," they want institutions to be pro-active. That means you don't say "Well, we would have considered hiring a qualified minority candidate but none applied." You're supposed to actively recruit qualified minority candidates. You don't just say "We had a qualified minority candidate but we just had some other non-minority candidates with more established and successful backgrounds." In order to address the "diversity gap," you're supposed to weight the diversity factor as highly as some other factors.

If what we heard about the post-season meeting with Gates is true, that would indicate that they pro-actively recruited Gates. Many of the posters here want Musselman, Smith, Medved, or Dutcher in part because they are "legacies" of sorts. What the leaders for reducing the "diversity gap" want is for that factor to be at least as important (actually, more important) than legacy concerns.
 



Genuinely curious. Does hiring women coaches and administrators (even if white) no longer count as diversity hiring? Or, how about if a coach or administrator is gay (but white)?
 
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SixBySix said:
That's a tough one to accurately assess, though, as I strongly suspect MN has relatively more first-generation children of color compared to most states.
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Oh, believe me, they have made the efforts to assess that. You may be right about the first generation point if what you mean by that is "first generation Americans."
 

Gates is my preferred candidate but it has nothing to do with the color of his skin. Its his reputation among the coaching profession, the fact that he is a relationship builder (recruiting, coaching, boosters and fans) and that he has rehabilitated a difficult program at Cleveland State. I think even the best intentions of wanting to hire a person of color ends up degrading people of color. They should be hired because they are worthy of the position (and he definitely is), not to fill diversity quotas. Hire the best should be the goal and let it play out.
 

Stan said:
If you look at the head coaches Coyle has hired, the only two sports where there are a good number of black candidates are women's basketball and football. And in both cases, it's hard to argue that Coyle could have hired a minority candidate who was a better fit for Minnesota than Whalen and Fleck. Obviously Whalen has struggled some, but for our program, at the time she was hired it was a no-brainer. I don't know of many POC candidates for men's hockey, and I have no idea either way on softball.
Click to expand...

There was no candidate better for MN than Fleck period. Coyle did hire Dino Babers as the head football coach at Syracuse as well. I get the point the article is making, but you still need to hire the best person. What we strongly need to look at is how/why we are not setting up POC coaches to get hired as HCs at the lower/mid major level. We need to stop having POC coaches getting viewed as only a "recruiter" for staffs. Most high major coaching jobs hire from a lower level conference below. We need to find ways for coaches to trickle up (which is not happening)

Face The Facts said:
Dennis Gates will get the basketball job if Dennis Gates wants the job.
Equally as qualified as anyone else looking at the job.

Brings diversity to the athletic department.

No brainer.
Click to expand...

I don't think 2 years of HC experience makes him as equally qualified for the job as Smith (10 years as a HC) or Dutcher (Over 30 years total and 4 years as a HC). You hire Gates if you think he has the highest ceiling (that may be true). His turnaround at Cleveland State was remarkable, but it's not fair to dismiss the other guys work for 2 excellent years. I'm glad Gates and Shrewsberry will get interviews. If they win the interview process, then they deserve the job.
 



tjgopher said:
Genuinely curious. Does hiring women coaches and administrators (even if white) no longer count as diversity hiring? Or, how about if a coach or administrator is gay (but white)?
Click to expand...
It does but, among Minnesota higher educational institutions, women seem to be pretty well represented in leadership positions. For the U of M system: Twin Cities, Crookston, and Morris all have female presidents or chancellors. For the MN State system: Moorhead, St. Cloud, Metro, and Bemidji all have female presidents. I would imagine that there are a lot of female deans throughout both systems.
 


Face The Facts said:
Dennis Gates will get the basketball job if Dennis Gates wants the job.
Equally as qualified as anyone else looking at the job.

Brings diversity to the athletic department.

No brainer.
Click to expand...
I would suppose it depends on your criteria, but I would say that no, he does not. He only has two years of HC experience. All the other names on the list have much more experience than that.

Flip the script and see if it holds up. We'll use Craig Smith as an example to flip with Gates, as he has pretty good qualifications. A black guy has 10 years HC experience, is from MN, and so he (theoretically) has connections he can draw on during recruiting. He was HC at three schools, won at all of them, and has a career winning percentage of .678. The other candidate is a non-local white guy, who was a long time assistant. Known for his recruiting prowess, but only has 2 years of HC experience, where he has a .517 winning percentage. In this case, do you think people would be losing their marbles if the black guy got passed over?

Gates may interview and gel well with Coyle. He may be the best person for the job- that's for Coyle to decide. But to claim he has similar qualifications is not accurate. Oh, but he has years as an assistant that should count. Well, in that case, Dutcher has him handily beat.

The problem Coyle/The U has in instances like this is that you look at the list of names, and there just aren't that many black candidates that would qualify as a good hire. Go back to the hiring of Pitino- I think all Gopher fans were all-in on Shaka. He was easily the most intriguing/qualified candidate out there. It didn't particularly matter that he was black, as he was the best coach available. It's just too bad we had an incompetent person doing the hiring at that time.

I'm guessing racial equity is as big of a deal everywhere in the county as it is here, so a guy like Gates, who seems to be the most intriguing black candidate out there, could find himself in a very enviable position. He can use that leverage to get exactly the spot he wants at the money he wants. More power to him. The question then, is if the U wants him, but he's snatched up by BC first, do you have to "reach" for another black candidate to prove you're devoted to diversity?
 

GoodasGold said:
We have a sizable Hmong community in the Twin Cities area. Just say’in 😗
Click to expand...

Now there's a real diversity challenge: recruiting and hiring a qualified Hmong D1 basketball coach!
 

forever a gopher said:
I'm guessing racial equity is as big of a deal everywhere in the county as it is here, so a guy like Gates, who seems to be the most intriguing black candidate out there, could find himself in a very enviable position. He can use that leverage to get exactly the spot he wants at the money he wants. More power to him. The question then, is if the U wants him, but he's snatched up by BC first, do you have to "reach" for another black candidate to prove you're devoted to diversity?
Click to expand...

Maybe so. You're right that Minnesota can't be considered a slam dunk to get Gates. I don't think the people who prioritize a diversity hiring would be persuaded that the goal should be abandoned if the U doesn't land Gates. You can't really make the case that there aren't other qualified black candidates across the country.
 

The way we do affirmative action in my organization is that, if two candidates are within a few evaluation "points" of each other, the minority candidate should normally be selected--or justify why not. The last offer I made was to a minority candidate, but he was also the best candidate by far.

In this case, I absolutely love Gates as a candidate, but he objectively doesn't have the length of HC experience as the other purported candidates. Whether you put that aside and hire him anyway shouldn't be a function of skin color but instead the strategic consideration of whether to risk committing to a second-year head coach.

The most important thing is that you conducted a fair and affirmative-action process and at the same time are fair to your fans and the institution.
 

cjbfbp said:
It does but, among Minnesota higher educational institutions, women seem to be pretty well represented in leadership positions. For the U of M system: Twin Cities, Crookston, and Morris all have female presidents or chancellors. For the MN State system: Moorhead, St. Cloud, Metro, and Bemidji all have female presidents. I would imagine that there are a lot of female deans throughout both systems.
Click to expand...

So the fact that more than half of Coyle's hires in coaching and administration are women (some of whom are gay) shouldn't count?

It is at least a bit disingenuous of the newspaper (which by the way has an atrocious record of diversity hires and leadership in its own business) to not at least mention that part of the story, which includes "diversity" in the headline.

I mean to include Whalen in a photo of the story as if she doesn't count as a diverse hire, should infuriate everyone fighting for women in the workplace.
 
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Face The Facts said:
Dennis Gates will get the basketball job if Dennis Gates wants the job.
Equally as qualified as anyone else looking at the job.

Brings diversity to the athletic department.

No brainer.
Click to expand...
So if Dutcher or Musselman is interested, Gates is equally qualified? Based on what criteria?
 


cjbfbp said:
Maybe so. You're right that Minnesota can't be considered a slam dunk to get Gates. I don't think the people who prioritize a diversity hiring would be persuaded that the goal should be abandoned if the U doesn't land Gates. You can't really make the case that there aren't other qualified black candidates across the country.
Click to expand...
Yes, you can. And that’s Coyle’s job: to determine who the qualified candidates are. Your third sentence is correct, though. To those where race is everything (wouldn’t that be a real racist?), it won’t matter if no black coach beyond Gates (if he even is) is truly B1G ready, just the tally on the minority scorecard. Imagine if we were looking at society race ratios to determine player scholarships. Sorry, you can’t have so many black players in the BB team because you went over the quota. It doesn’t take much inspection to find higher ed at the forefront of eroding the meritocracy (and I’m a retired professor).
 

cjbfbp said:
Maybe so. You're right that Minnesota can't be considered a slam dunk to get Gates. I don't think the people who prioritize a diversity hiring would be persuaded that the goal should be abandoned if the U doesn't land Gates. You can't really make the case that there aren't other qualified black candidates across the country.
Click to expand...
Name them.
 

If Mark Coyle has not been in contact with Gates people then it would be a shame. There is no reason why he shouldn't be considered. We should be targeting the best coach to lead our program. I still believe that Gates ends up at either PSU or BC. Also, If his team wins a game or two in the tourney his stock will only climb.
 

BarnBurner said:
Name them.
Click to expand...

Why in the name of God would I spend any effort researching black coaches to satisfy you? What have you done to motivate that sense of duty?

I know that in a sport where black players dominate, there are plenty of black coaches out there and more than one of them would merit a look. The people who prioritize diversity hiring believe in elevating them when you have the opportunity.

Now get lost! You have a lot of nerve (and ridiculous overconfidence I would add) in asking me to do anything.
 


bigyetti18 said:
If Mark Coyle has not been in contact with Gates people then it would be a shame. There is no reason why he shouldn't be considered. We should be targeting the best coach to lead our program. I still believe that Gates ends up at either PSU or BC. Also, If his team wins a game or two in the tourney his stock will only climb.
Click to expand...
Yes he should definitely be considered, I agree on Penn State or BC.
 

tjgopher said:
So the fact that more than half of Coyle's hires in coaching and administration are women (some of whom are gay) shouldn't count?

It is at least a bit disingenuous of the newspaper (which by the way has an atrocious record of diversity hires and leadership in its own business) to not at least mention that part of the story, which includes "diversity" in the headline.

I mean to include Whalen in a photo of the story as if she doesn't count as a diverse hire, should infuriate everyone fighting for women in the workplace.
Click to expand...

I gave my answer to your question about women. If that answer isn't good enough for you, that's not my problem. Obviously there would be some reservation about hiring a female head coach for a male basketball team (although, oddly, the reverse doesn't seem to apply as much).
 

Diversity is important, and there are definitely achievement/access gaps of all kinds based on race that we should all work to remedy as much as possible. But I don’t think filtering candidates out by race—as many diversity advocates would push for or this article suggests, at least implicitly—is the way to do that. IMO, that’s an over-correction to the discrimination minorities have faced.

Coyle should make pro-active efforts to recruit/consider qualified minority candidates. Maybe consider some sort of initial blind review process to help weed out any subconscious bias. But ultimately he should hire the best person for the job. That’s what’s best for the players, the school, and the state.
 

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