Honest question: Does Sumlin Hire change perception of A&M?

No more than Sly did at Miss St. Honestly, it won't make a shite unless he wins. And he won't. Great that the team is excited but I don't really care what their asses think because they went 6-6 and I understand they are wary of the SEC move. As long as A&M remains one of the most conservative schools in the nation, blacks won't flock to it.

Could care less if he is white or black. Good for you I guess.

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Does Sumlin Hire change perception of A&M?

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The perception is not one of racism but one of "Aggies are freakin' weird."

Maybe this helps.....look, there HAS to be some reason A&M had been a massive failure in the modern (Post WWII) era of college football. No national titles. No top 5 finish in close to 60 years. How can this happen to a big school with a solid academic foundation that doesn't lack for resources and is close to the fertile recruiting grounds of Dallas & Houston?

It has to be the perception of the culture. Of course everyone white person at A&M isn't racist. Of course other schools have racism issues. But when you turn on the TV and see a bunch of white guys in uniforms and buzz haircuts doing weird things as a collective, I can't help but think that freaks out some African-American athletes in downtown Houston & Dallas. Is it any coincidence that A&M's football performance has trended down as the presence of the internet/social media has increased in our lives?

This hire is a big message to any minority recruit on the fence.

Dude Texas people eat, sleep, and breathe football. Houston alone has more people than the entire state of Louisiana. Y'all have plenty to go around, and yes Sumlin is in for a rude awakening. He was only successful with Case. Fedora would have been a much better hire.

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Background: I'm African American, and graduated from TAMU last year. My father is A&M class of '83, and my little brother is a sophomore business major there now. None of us have ever had any racial run-ins in College Station but the perception of A&M as being full of racist rednecks still has significant traction among many minorities.

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First - the "perception" of racism is a tough issue. I have maintained and will maintain - at least since ~1980, that - as far as decision-makers go, the only color that matters is green. There was a disproportional number of white coaches (and that probably remains, though not as severe) in a sport where the participants, particularly in the south, were increasingly African American.

However, that ignored several facts - most great players play professionally, for at least several years, and are either behind their peers who went straight into the GA/Position Coach/Coordinator route after finishing their NCAA eligibility, or pursued other, more lucrative opportunities based on their name.

Also, the pipeline was not loaded with a sufficient "critical mass" of minority, particularly AA assistant coaches (though there were quality candidates that got passed over repeatedly in the NFL - Dungy and Lewis come to mind) for the numbers to make sense.

But now - and I'm not sure how much the Rooney Rule helped in the NFL - I liked the fact it didn't mandate "numbers", but it still fostered this notion of "differentness" and that blacks still need help to make it - we are almost at the tipping point where the race of the applicant is, more or less, irrelevant - in some cases, status as African American is viewed as a plus because of identification issues with the majority of recruits.

Success of black head coaches starts to take the anxiety away from the decision-makers in considering and making additional hires (just as success of black QBs did for that position that remained notoriously very, very white for about 8 to 10 years too long in the NFL).

I don't know how it helps aTm from the "perception" issue. It is one step closer to a day where we don't care (after all, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to live in an America that is increasingly composed of people with a medium-hued caramel color and they will look back on our grandfathers like they were from the stone age).

There were much better African American coaches out there in my opinion. The guy at Louiville was DC at florida and very good. YOU NEED DEFENSE IN THE SEC! STRONG has proven he can do it in the SEC and should have been hired.

As long as the favorite eating establishment in CS is the Dixie Chicken, it's going to be be hard to kick the racist stereotype.

It's more than just that, but that's just kind of a sign of the mentality there.

And you may think it's not racist but I've got 2 cousins who both graduated from aTm, I guarantee you that on the first 3 and out more than a few "f*&king ni***r" will be heard at the tackle box.

I think CS may be the least racist place I know. I lived there for over five years. I also did not know that other schools may brand it that way. I think it may just be convenient for some to do so.

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They rely way too much on Texas talent.

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There is nowhere near the passion for football in Texas as there is in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana

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I think you are wrong about both of those statements.