by Nik Fisher

Created on: November 25, 2008

There is a large push in the media to convince the NCAA to force more universities to consider more minority coaches in college football. The cause is a worthy one, after all, a substantial portion of college football players are African American and there are only six head coaches. Then why hasn't the campaign been more successful? It is about market, plane and simple. Think about this, if you were running a company and one of your products failed, would you promote a product that does much better or complain that the market is not doing enough to buy your product?

The rallying cry of the media has been the allegation that Notre Dame's firing of Tyrone Willingham was motivated by race. I believed this argument for a good while until this season. Willingham will likely finish this season without a single victory at Washington. It is true that Charlie Weis has not enjoyed any measure of success at Notre Dame, but comparing Willingham to Weis is like thinking weeds are roses, a flower Washington won't see with Willingham at the helm. The truth about Tyrone Willingham may just be he isn't that great of a coach.

There are, however, African American coaches that work in the Bowl Subdivision that are hardly recognized because of the attention Willingham received. One of the finest coaches in the NCAA is Sly Croom of Mississippi State. True, Croom's team is only 4-7 this season and will miss a bowl berth, but Croom took over a situation at Mississippi State that any coach would struggle with. He is the first black head coach in the South Eastern Conference history and took over a program that has been floundering for years. Croom also heads a team that plays in the toughest conference in NCAA football and his team remains competitive every year. Last year, Croom took his team to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl and defeated a very good Central Florida team. Central Florida, coincidentally, was coached by George O'Leary, the man who was supposed to be the coach of Notre Dame before dishonesty opened the door for Willingham.

Perhaps the easiest argument to make for black head coaches is Randy Shannon of the University of Miami. He too inherited a bad situation. Miami was in far worse shape than MSU, because Miami wasn't just bad, they were thought to be unruly, indignant, and violent. Part of that came from their now legendary brawl with Florida International in 2006. Then-coach Larry Coker would find himself out of a job. Since Shannon took over the Canes are 12-11, including 7-4 this season and bowl bound again. Shannon has done more than just return Miami football to a winning program, it restored the nation's respect for the U.

Shouldn't the media be more focused on these men instead of Willingham? It seems that the media is sincere about furthering the cause to hire more black coaches in NCAA football but brow beating the viewing audience into accepting Willingham does little to help the situation. Worse yet, Croom and Shannon receive almost no media attention despite the fact that they are both turning dismally bad programs into winner. The media is doing the cause no favors by ignoring the great work that is being done by these men.

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