re: Should race be a factor in coaching searches?

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Always consider the race to the National Championship when hiring a coach.

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Yes and No. A football program is a product. The consumers are primarily fans of the program, and fans of the sport as an entertainment product. However, a successful football program also has to sell itself to quality high school football players. The pool of quality African-American football players is disproportionally high, while the numbers of African-American coaches (particularly head coaches), while growing, remain proportionally much lower than African-American participation in the sport. I make this point for this reason: If I have two candidates and one is superior, race drops to meaninglessness. If I had two candidates that were virtually identical in background, experience, personality, etc., yet one fits the demographics of a target customer group (i.e., I'm hiring a person to sell motorized scooters to the elderly and disabled. The older candidate might have the edge here, if all other factors are equal.). So, two equal candidates (and especially in the south), the African-American might have an edge in recruiting and with the cultural identification with the players and their families. (I think this is probably overblown, because the football sub-culture trumps, or certainly mitigates differences in racial and ethnic cultures, but it could still be a discriminator in helping choose the better candidate for the job.)


I, personally, make all judgments about people, based on the person, not their race. However, to completely ignore all aspects of race is terribly naive.

Absolutely NO

either for or against.

This is a business.

You hire the best person to fill the need.

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If I have two candidates and one is superior, race drops to meaninglessness. If I had two candidates that were virtually identical in background, experience, personality, etc.,

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after 35 years of hiring people, I have yet to see TWO IDENTICAL CANDIDATES....
...it is only a theory, will not work in real life....(I have on SELDOM occasions seen TWO COMPARABLE candidates).

I do agree with you in that the demographics of both the "employee" and of the "target market" my have some influence.....although the Target Market will carry much more weight.

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The world is not just black and white,

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Correct, there are Asians and Hispanics also.

No.

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Should race be a factor in coaching searches?

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No. If a program passing on the best person for the job because of race, then they should suffer for considering it in the first place.

not a real life ie., but if a team passes on Turner Gill and instead hire Bill Callahan because of race then they get what they deserve. On the opposite side, if they hire Charlie Strong due to pressure to hire a certain race and pass on Brian Kelly and Charlie Strong sucks they deserve what they get. Just hire the best person for the job. /rant...