Modern Day Slacker

In most professional sports leagues, an effort is being made to open the doors for qualified minority coaches to get a shot at the big jobs. It is usually referred to as “The Rooney Rule”. This rule basically says that you must at least interview one minority candidate for a head coaching position. Does this rule work? Like most rules, the answer is sometimes. But you cannot argue that without it, the head coaching world, and coaching world in general in professional sports would be very….beige.

In college sports, there is no Rooney rule. In fact, there really are not many rules at all. Specifically in college football, coaches hop from school to school, signing sweet contracts that most of the time end up being bought out. Who pays for all of this? I am not sure. Personally, I am torn because I love sports but I also know what it’s like to go to a school that makes tons of money off athletics but not reap any of the rewards (the cash I mean).

Recently, the head coach of the football team of Auburn University in Alabama, Tommy Tuberville (which in and of itself is an awesome name), decided this was it for him, that he would step down after the season. The school launched a search for a new coach and everyone was wondering who would end up coaching there.

Charles Barkley, arguably one of Auburn’s most famous alumni, made a direct plea on his show Inside The NBA for Auburn to hire Buffalo’s head coach Turner Gill, who has taken that program, turned it around, took it to the MAC conference championship and it’s first Bowl game in 50 years (the last time, the team was invited to play the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida, but only if black backup defensive end Mike Wilson and starting halfback Willie Evans didn’t play. The team stood with thier teammates and refused the bid.) Instead, the school hired Gene Chizik, a white head coach from Iowa State who, in 2 seasons, compiled a record of 5-19. Yes, you read that right. This guy won 2 games and lost 19 in two seasons.

Needless to say, Barkley flipped out. Barkley had sat on the committee to find a new Auburn basketball head coach and said he would only help if they hired a minority coach. Alabama did it so why couldn’t they? Charles brought them smart and qualified applicants and the school went with Jeff Lebo, who hasn’t done much. Oh, and he’s a white guy. All of the guys Barkley brought Auburn went on to have good records with great schools. Now with this, what would you think?

In college sports, there are people who raise money and give money to the school and the athletic program. Boosters, they are called. These people are usually rich and old and the universities never want to piss them off. It is understood that in certain areas, they hold alot of sway over everything that happens to a team….they hold the carrot of cash over the school’s head.

It is blatantly obvious that if the school won’t hire a minority that is way more qualified then another nonminority coach, that something is amiss. Alabama, and the South in general, are known for thier redneck racist views. Not all Southerners feel that way, but let’s face it, those old racist feelings aren’t going to disappear overnite. Obviously, this is a major issue in finding coaches there. It also makes them look like flaming racists and way, way behind the times.

Barkley has spoken out about this, but I have noticed that major sport avenues, namely, ESPN, has sort of stayed away from this topic. How is it, in this day and age, ok that you can recruit minorities to play for your teams but a minority isn’t good enough to run it? I can’t be the only one who feels this is not only ridiculously racist but just ridiculous.

How are the players not completely insulted? I understand that if you have a scholarship, biting the hand that feeds you is stupid, but if I were a minority player and Auburn tried to recruit me, I would think more then twice about committing. Perhaps a boycott of players and recruits needs to happen before the school gets the idea.

I’m not saying that the job should go to someone just because they are a minority. I am saying that the school obviously hasn’t even made an effort to even make it look like they even give a crap about a decent minority coaching hire. It’s business as usual in the good ol’ boy network. The hilarious part is that they can’t even seem to find a white guy out there that is any good to work for them. Is it because any non-minority coach has half a brain to stay away from that good ol’ boy network at Auburn? Who knows.

We have a black president-elect soon to be running this country. Hello!

Maybe Auburn, and the South, can keep up with the rest of us by telling the good ol’ boys to shove it and pick the best person for the job?

I guess we’ll see. But I wouldn’t count on it.