Will race play a factor in U coaching hire?

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GopherinPhilly

GopherinPhilly

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Just a question to consider...if Dungy is a big part of the process...and we know his committment to progressing African American coaches...how much will race play in the decision?

With the Sumlin chat starting to heat up...since he is a young African American coach...will that outweigh his lack of long term success at a BCS school compared to Leach or Belotti?

Would love to be a fly on the wall of the meetings that are going on...

I, for one, would prefer Leach, but definately understand why Sumlin is a target...beyond race, he has enough experience, a track record of success and has local ties and may be easier to land than Leach.
 

Yes, and no.

Dungy will not recommend an African American coach, just for the sake of getting an African Amaerican coach a job. However, if there is an African American coach who's very qualified I think Dungy is likely to push for him over and equally or slightly more more qualified white coach.

I see no problem with this so long as the coach is clearly qualified and not a clearly lesser candidate than others who happen to be white.

I think Dungy wants Frazier to take the job but Frazier has NFL dreams. We could also seen Ty Willingham in consideration, along with Sumlin. I see these as being the 3 guys Dungy would be pushing for.

Frazier would be the obvous #1 but I like Sumlin before Willingham by a mile.

This becomes an issue when you have guys like Leach and Belotti out there who are top end proven coaches but have some drawbacks (Leach's character and Belotti's age).
 

GopherFB said:
Yes, and no.
We could also seen Ty Willingham in consideration, along with Sumlin.
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Considering the fact that Willingham has ruined three football programs already I doubt he could get a job as a position coach in college football.
 

They all seem to be in good shape. I don't know what having a race between them would prove. Sumlin is the youngest, so maybe he would win?
 

The Willingham suggestion sounds like something I'd hear on the Sports Huddle along with Lou Holtz and Mike Grant.
 


By the way, I don't think Willingham is under consideration:

In Case You Were Curious, Yes, Tyrone Willingham Is Retired
by Joe Kutsunis • Jul 20, 2010 4:28 PM EDT

Tyrone Willingham left coaching in 2008 after being fired from Washington after four straight losing seasons with the Huskies, which in turn had followed two lackluster seasons at Notre Dame. At only 56 six years old Willingham is still in his coaching prime if you will, so it might be somewhat surprising that the coach who once took Stanford to a PAC 10 championship and was once a very hot commodity in college football didn't end up anywhere as a minor conference head coach or perhaps as a coordinator on a BCS league team.

The reason? Tyrone Willingham is retired, he said so just yesterday. When asked by a Jacksonville, NC newspaper about his future Willingham replied "[I have] no problem announcing...that I am retired."
 

Yes and no. One angle I think is in play is that Dungy was "Mr. Rooney Rule" for quite awhile and logged a lot of frequent flyer miles and given a perfunctory interview as the token African-American head coaching candidate when a vacancy occurred. I think he wants to make certain that any African-American coaches who are brought in for an interview will be seriously considered and not just window-dressing.
 

I think that there is a shameful lack of pirates in the collegiate football coaching ranks.
 





gophmeister said:
Considering the fact that Willingham has ruined three football programs already I doubt he could get a job as a position coach in college football.
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Well, he has only had three head coaching jobs and the only one of those positions you could argue that he ruined is Washington, however he had quite a mess on his hands when he arrived. I'm not saying that he should be in consideration but to argue that he ruined 3 programs is almost impossible.
 

Race will definitely play a part. I only see the U interviewing whites and blacks. No Asians, Mexicans or Indians (either kind) will receive an interview. I also don't see certain ethnic groups, such as the Jews receiving any interviews.
 






I think Brandon Kirksey sums it up best in Phil's article:

Hiring a black coach "would be nice because it would say, 'We're willing to change at Minnesota, and it might help recruiting," said Kirksey, who is black. "But it doesn't really matter to us. As long as we get somebody who cares about the players -- Brewster cared about us -- and somebody who can help us win, those the most important things. [We] don't really think about the color of our coaches."
Click to expand...
 

No it will not. And I hope if they do hire a black coach people don't whine about it and assume it was some kind of affirmative action hire.
 


It occurs to me that Minnesota has probably been one of the more progressive schools at hiring high profile minorities in the athletic department with Clem, Mac Boston, and Tubby. If it happens again I would have no problem with it as long as he (she :)) is the best candidate and fit regardless.

How is that for politically correct.
 

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