Re: Dont forget to bet against black coaches
Re: Dont forget to bet against black coaches
November 23, 1987|By John Seaburn, Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
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AKRON, OHIO — Harry Edwards, the nationally known black activist and assistant to
baseball
Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, said Ohio State will be a ``targeted institution`` for protests and demonstrations if black candidates are not considered to replace football coach Earle Bruce.
Edwards, a University of California sociology professor, told the Akron Beacon Journal: ``We have become quite concerned that positions such as the one at Ohio State come open and no qualified black candidates receive fair consideration.``
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Edwards cited a survey that he said showed there were two black athletic directors, three black head football coaches and 29 black head basketball coaches in 300 Division I programs.
He also referred to a list of possible candidates compiled by the 157-member Black Coaches Association. Edwards said some of the nation`s finest black coaches simply await the call to direct
top college
and pro programs.
``A virtually untapped source of great potential,`` said Edwards, who was named a special assistant to Ueberroth to boost minority hiring for front-office jobs. ``There are any number of black candidates emerging in college and professional coaching ranks today qualified for positions at Division I programs in this country.``
Sherman Lewis, a former Michigan State All-American running back and Spartan assistant now with the NFL`s
San Francisco 49ers, heads the list of qualified black coaches, Edwards said.
``Sherman has proven himself to be knowledgeable about the game and a motivator of young men, as well as a fine young man himself,`` Edwards said.
Other top black head coaching candidates, Edwards said, are Frank Faulks, an Arizona State assistant; Dennis Green, former Northwestern head coach and a 49ers assistant; and Bobby Grier, who put in stints at Eastern Michigan, Boston College and Northwestern before becoming backfield coach and running-game coordinator for the
New England Patriots.
``I can guarantee that we are watching the various programs this year, with emphasis on Ohio State, and will be very interested in whether qualified black candidates receive equitable, conscientious interviews,`` Edwards said. In 1979, when Ohio State hired Bruce, who was fired Monday, other candidates for the job were George Chaump and George Hill, assistant coaches on Woody Hayes` staff, and Rudy Hubbard, head coach at Florida A&M.
A protest erupted at the press conference announcing Bruce`s hiring.
Tom Fullove, president of the Columbus chapter of the NAACP, challenged the choice of Bruce over Hubbard, a black.
``I don`t think your record is very good,`` Fullove told Bruce. ``A black man was the only logical choice for the Ohio State coaching job.``
While not referring to Hubbard by name, Fullove made it clear that the NAACP believed Hubbard was better qualified for the position than Bruce. At that time, Fullove said the selection of Bruce and not Hubbard was ``the second time this has happened at Ohio State.
``When they named Eldon Miller as basketball coach (in 1977), Ohio State passed over the best qualified man, Joe Roberts, an assistant with the
Golden State Warriors,`` Fullove said. ``There are a lot of black mommies and daddies out there, and you can be sure they are going to hear about the situation at Ohio State.``
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Edwards said a ``white list`` of schools that do not hire black coaches but that routinely recruit black players was being compiled, and that Ohio State was on the list.
He said a national movement may be implemented against a school that refuses to consider qualified black coaching candidates.
The movement, Edwards said, would urge black athletes to foresake those schools in favor of schools that consider qualified black coaches.
Edwards claimed that 1960s black activist movements directed at the athletic programs of Washington and Oregon State universities were successful. ``Washington was until the late 1970s recovering from that movement,``
Edwards said, ``and Oregon State`s athletic programs have yet to recover.
``Oh, yes, such a movement does work. And it would work at Ohio State.``
Edwards said a recent meeting with NCAA executive director Dick Schultz to discuss the concerns of black coaches and administrators ``went quite well. We met for 3 1/2 hours and talked about many things.
``I came away impressed not only with the fact that Mr. Schultz is concerned about many of the things that concern us, but also committed to doing whatever he can to help make things right.``
Edwards said the meeting with Schultz helped diffuse the possibility of a black player-coach boycott of college football bowl games and basketball`s Final Four.
Still, it could happen, Edwards suggested.
``We are not saying that someone must be hired because he is black, but that he deserves consideration if qualified, regardless of color,`` he said.
``The phrase here is `equitable and conscientious.` Nothing more.``
