BCA Gives ND "B" Grade

[jiggafini19]

Notre Dame gets B for minority hiring efforts
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- Notre Dame received a B on the minority hiring report card released Wednesday by the Black Coaches Association, even though the Fighting Irish fired Tyrone Willingham after the 2004 season.

Notre Dame was one of eight schools in Division I-A or I-AA to receive a B, while five schools, including South Carolina and Utah, received an F.

Schools are evaluated on categories that include the percentage of minorities involved in the hiring process, the number of minority candidates who interviewed and the schools' contacts with either BCA executive director Floyd Keith or the chairman of the NCAA's Minority Opportunity and Interests Committee.

The black football coaches at Notre Dame, New Mexico State and San Jose State either were fired or quit after last season. Notre Dame received the highest grade of the three. New Mexico State received a C and San Jose State was given an F, failing in three of five categories.

Washington, which later hired Willingham, also received a B.

The only schools to receive an F in all five categories were South Carolina, which hired Steve Spurrier after Lou Holtz left; and Utah, which promoted Kyle Whittingham to replace Urban Meyer. Meyer was hired by Florida, which received a D. Neither school submitted data to the BCA.

Seventeen of 30 schools that made coaching changes last year received average, below average or failing grades.

Ohio University and Western Michigan, both of the Mid-American Conference, were the only schools to receive A's across the board. Indiana, Illinois and UNLV were the other schools to finish with an overall grade of A.

Indiana State, which hired Lou West as the only black head coach in Division I-AA not at an historically black school, received a C. It was given an F for the number of minorities included on the search committees and scored a B for "documented" compliance with its own affirmative action policies.

BCA executive director Floyd Keith advised student-athletes to use the report card when making decisions about attending college and suggested the BCA would consider legal action if there is not significant progress next year, based on hiring inequity.

Only three Division I-A football programs have black coaches: Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State, Karl Dorrell of UCLA and Willingham, the only black coach hired this year after the 2004 season.

NCAA President Myles Brand has urged athletic directors to take a closer look at minority coaching candidates.

 

[jiggafini19]

Jason Whitlock, your crow is ready.

Tip your waitress.

 

[iloveirish_12]

Who cares what they give them. I don't care. I hate how everything now a days has to do with race. Shut the hell up. I don't care if a coach is black, white, green or blue. If he wins he wins. Thats all i care about, where he takes the program and how he coaches. I don't care what the BCA says.

 

[bmf175]

I will print out their report card and use it as toilet paper thats the only thing it will be good for.
Thanks for giving instituions out of your control grades?????? Morons!

 

[irish9331]

Who cares about this organization? Why can't it be that the most qualified person gets the job and not a black white thing. Everytime a school hires a black coach, you can't fire them without everyone making a big deal about it. It doesn't help.

 

[iloveirish_12]

I wouldn't hire a black coach just so i wouldn't have to fire him. It's hell when you fire a black coach. But no one cares when a white coach gets fired.

 

[jiggafini19]

There is a lot of recycled garbage out there. Minorities and young assistants don't get much of a chance. Neither do I-AA or D II coaches that deserve looks.

To have FOUR black coaches in all of Division I is somewhat alarming to me. Guys like Mike Price at UTEP and George O'Leary at UCF get second chances before a young guy or an assistant gets his first. Then you have the Jackie Sherill and Dennis Erickson types that are known cheaters and get hired again. If Gary Barnett ever gets let go at Colorado, he'd be coaching somewhere else the following season.

The only black coach to get fired and the media making a big deal of it was Ty, which was because it was Notre Dame.

When Bobby Williams got canned at Michigan State, I didn't hear peep. Firing a black coach isn't as bad as what Notre Dame went through.

And they're the ones who are in compliance with everything a school is supposed to be doing with athletics.

 

[Rip Rap]

I really don't think race is a factor for D2 or D1AA coaches moving up. For how long did Tressel dominate with Y-Town State before getting a chance to go D1? Over a decade.

Sherril and Erickson won national titles.

 

[Vince Young]

I wouldn't hire a black coach just so i wouldn't have to fire him. It's hell when you fire a black coach.

Careful... that's just a softer form of racism.

A coach should be hired or fired for merit. Period. Race shouldn't come into it. Neither should the potential criticism for firing the coach. Even with all the criticism from firing Ty, Notre Dame has done just fine this year and is getting a lot of favorable press overall.

Notre Dame's mistake in 2002 wasn't hiring a black coach. Their mistake was hiring a coach who wasn't up to the job. That's all there is to it.

 

[bmf175]

Careful... that's just a softer form of racism.

A coach should be hired or fired for merit. Period. Race shouldn't come into it. Neither should the potential criticism for firing the coach. Even with all the criticism from firing Ty, Notre Dame has done just fine this year and is getting a lot of favorable press overall.

Notre Dame's mistake in 2002 wasn't hiring a black coach. Their mistake was hiring a coach who wasn't up to the job. That's all there is to it.

Exactly that is how rational people see it. Rational people realize that it is a job just like any other, if you do not perform up to snuff you are told to leave. If the BCA had their way TY would still be here even if ND were 2-5. As long as their race is represented, no matter how poor of a performance is given the BCA is happy with quantity not quality.

 

[Vince Young]

If the BCA had their way TY would still be here even if ND were 2-5. As long as their race is represented, no matter how poor of a performance is given the BCA is happy with quantity not quality.

Hang on a sec... Notre Dame fired a black coach and hired a white coach, and BCA still gave Notre Dame a B, way better than most of the other schools on their list. It's also the exact same grade they gave to Washington, who did the opposite: fired a white coach and hired a black coach. Seems to me that the BCA is happy with the way Notre Dame handled things overall.

Mind you, I'm no fan of the BCA, but give 'em a break here. If it was really all about race and race alone, Notre Dame would have an F, not a B.

 

[jiggafini19]

I really don't think race is a factor for D2 or D1AA coaches moving up. For how long did Tressel dominate with Y-Town State before getting a chance to go D1? Over a decade.

Sherril and Erickson won national titles.

I'm not saying it is. What I'm saying is that the lower division coaches, young assistants AND minorities don't get opportunities.

Cheaters like Sherril and Erickson do because they bring in convicted felons and F-students. That's why they won National Championships.

Erickson left Miami and Oregon State in messes. Sherrill did the same at Mississippi State and has been known as a rule breaker for years. Scumbags. These schools knew what these guys were about and hired them anyway. They sold their souls.

The ass kicking Oregon State gave Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl a few years back hurt me that much more. The way those players acted, seeing Erickson on the sideline, it made me sick.

 

[Aerosmith777]

I can sleep easy now, the Black Coaches Association likes us again....

These are the same people, mind you, who after Ty was fired said, "He did everything at Notre Dame but win a National Championship." ... except get to a BCS game...except win a bowl game...except beat USC (hell, except lose to USC by less than 31)...

This is about how much I care for the BCA's opinion after rediculous statements like that

 

[bmf175]

Hang on a sec... Notre Dame fired a black coach and hired a white coach, and BCA still gave Notre Dame a B, way better than most of the other schools on their list. It's also the exact same grade they gave to Washington, who did the opposite: fired a white coach and hired a black coach. Seems to me that the BCA is happy with the way Notre Dame handled things overall.

Mind you, I'm no fan of the BCA, but give 'em a break here. If it was really all about race and race alone, Notre Dame would have an F, not a B.

Sorry I cant cut them a break nor do they deserve one. Did they lay off ND when Ty was fired? They only layed off once Weis proved to be a better coach, but all rational, thinking people already knew this before Weis ever coached his first game at ND.
Why do they deserve a break? They are giving themselves "power" to criticize and "grade" institutions that they have no right to grade.
I have to agree with the members that have been saying all along the only thing this association has done is prevented future hirings for minorities. They are doing more bad than good.
Instead of wasting resources on trying to change or grade things they have no control over why dont they put more emphasis on getting under privileged minorities into college and teaching them how to read and write at a college level, and not handing out BS "report cards".
Why because they want attention. They are getting attention alright, buts it is negative attention, they are doing more bad then good.

 

[bigdon]

Hang on a sec... Notre Dame fired a black coach and hired a white coach, and BCA still gave Notre Dame a B, way better than most of the other schools on their list. It's also the exact same grade they gave to Washington, who did the opposite: fired a white coach and hired a black coach. Seems to me that the BCA is happy with the way Notre Dame handled things overall.

Mind you, I'm no fan of the BCA, but give 'em a break here. If it was really all about race and race alone, Notre Dame would have an F, not a B.

If it's not about "race and race alone" what is it about? This is the BCA, the BLACK Coaches Assn.

They can give ND a B now but they were'nt so generous when TY was fired. They are completely out of step with college football. ND doesn't care what color their coach is if he can win ball games.

Have they ever been critical of one of their own? Never, as long as someone hires them.

The only thing I mind is how much space we're giving them on this site (me included) for such a rediculous topic.

I'll shut up.

 

[Vince Young]

As I said before, if the BCA was about "only race and race alone," all they would've cared about is that Notre Dame fired a black guy and hired a white guy, and that Washington did the opposite. Notre Dame would've gotten an F, and Washington would've gotten an A.

Instead, both schools got a B.

That shows me they're willing to acknowledge that there's more to it than just the coach's skin color.

Quite frankly, the biggest reason why there are so few minority coaches in college and pro football isn't even because of race at all. What it really comes down to is that both college and pro football programs have a tendency to keep hiring from the same small pool of people that have already been head coaches elsewhere, no matter how much of a colossal failure they've been elsewhere. Ty got another job. Ron Zook got another job. Rick Neuheisel got another job. Bob Davie probably could've gotten another job if he wanted it. Ray Rhodes got another job. Marty Schottenheimer (how the hell do you spell that guy's name?) got another job. Dave Wannstedt bombed out in Chicago, got hired by the Dolphins, bombed out again, and STILL got hired again. Steve Spurrier, Pete Carroll and Lou Holtz all bombed in the NFL as head coaches, and yet still got hired right back as head coaches in college almost right away. Butch Davis bombed out in the NFL and half of this message board wanted him at ND after Urban pulled his bait-and-switch on us. Need I go on?

Ironically, Charlie Weis may actually make things BETTER for minorities in the future. Think about how many ASSISTANT coaches in college and pro football are minorities. Charlie has made the leap from assistant coach to head coach quite well. And now, when future head coach positions open up, the decision-makers may now be more willing to tap an assistant coach rather than grab so-and-so who used to be the head coach of such-and-such. Instead of looking for another Wannstache, they'll be looking for "the next Weis."

That, more than anything else, will open the door for more minority head coaches in the future.

But in the meantime, can't we just be grateful that an organization like the BCA has (finally) acknowledged that Notre Dame's coaching decision wasn't racist or racially-motivated? Isn't this exactly the sort of validation we've been looking for so that the Jason Whitlocks of the world would shut up? That's all I'm really trying to say.