The NFL dominated on Thanksgiving night, with the Raiders and the Cowboys attracting over 38 million viewers. But since then, college football told the pros to hold their (non-alcoholic) beer.
Dominating the weekend was Michigan’s emotional thumping of Ohio State, a victory nine years in the making. But perhaps the most interesting and telling game was in Stillwater, Oklahoma where the annual “Bedlam” game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State took place.
While the Cowboys were victorious, the result wasn’t as big as the news that dropped the next day.
Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley, who was rumored to be headed to LSU, suddenly flew west and agreed to become the new head coach of the USC Trojans.
This was the third big coaching vacancy in college football. The others were at Florida, where Louisiana coach Billy Napier was hired to replace Dan Mullens, and at LSU, where Ed Orgeron’s time with the Tigers is over.
Late Monday night, one void was filled and another emerged, this time at Notre Dame as Brian Kelly, the winningest coach in Irish history, agreed to a 10-year, $100 million+ deal with LSU.
But in the flurry of coaching moves, an important question has emerged that has yet to be addressed.
Where are the Black coaches?
Here We Go Again
At the start of the year, the NFL set an embarrassing mark.
Despite having seven head coaching vacancies, only one Black coach, David Culley, was hired. The other coach of color hired was Robert Saleh of the Jets, who is the first Muslim-American head coach in NFL history.
Now it appears college football is adopting the NFL’s hiring playbook.
With vacancies at some of the biggest traditional college football powerhouses, universities moved at warp speed to recycle the same old hiring practices that we frequently see, hear and expect, complete with the same names.
CBSSports has a list consisting of Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, Oregon’s Mario Cristobal, and Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin.
The Athletic had a similar list of names, adding Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell, and Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops.
USA Today’s was basically the same, adding South Carolina’s Shane Beamer and Dave Aranda to mix.
Not one Black coach was mentioned, and that doesn’t appear to be an issue for anyone.
To be fair, Eric Bieniemy’s name suddenly popped up in USC coaching chatter after Clay Helton was fired. Donte Williams took over as interim coach, becoming the first Black head coach in program history. But everyone knew that Bieniemy wasn’t a serious consideration and Williams was only temporary as they wanted a big name.
And on Sunday, they found they found their man.
But this needs to be a major issue for both college football and Black football coaches.
In 2020, only 14 Black head coaches helmed FBS programs. And out of the 17 new FBS head coaches at the start of the season, only Charles Huff (Marshall) and Maurice Linguist (Buffalo) are Black.
That didn’t go unnoticed.
“We lost ground at the collegiate level,” said Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson. “That, particularly in the backdrop of a horrific year where the social injustice was highlighted, in a year where you would think folks were a little more sensitive, is very disappointing.”
So where are the Black college football coaches?
Better yet, what happened to them? It’s like the Black candidate pool, which was full at one time, just dried up.
“Who are the top 10 African American candidates?” said Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith. “Back in the day, I could have rattled off names left and right. I could give you four or five now, but I can’t give you the depth that should be there, who we should all know.”
The biggest Black head coaching names in FBS are Michigan State’s Mel Tucker, Penn State’s James Franklin and Stanford’s David Shaw.
Tucker just signed a 10-year, $95 million extension with the Spartans, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in college football and the highest-paid Black head coach ever.
There were early murmurs of Franklin heading west for the USC job, but like Tucker, he re-upped with his team, agreeing to a 10-year contract extension with the Nittany Lions.
Shaw’s name surfaced in NFL head coaching discussions, but he has yet to be mentioned in any college coaching moves. That could change as Shaw is more than talented enough to coach at Notre Dame or Oklahoma, but it doesn’t seem likely.
So Who’s Next?
So who else is out there?
What about Deion Sanders?
Sanders completely changed the HBCU football landscape in his two years at Jackson State and is the biggest name of former NFL players heading to HBCU campuses. That list includes Tyrone Wheatley (Morgan State), Sean Gilbert (Livingstone College), and Eddie George at Tennesse State.
Sanders was rumored to be in the mix for the TCU job, but that seemed to be more of a spotlight generating rumor rather than serious consideration. Though with the way the hiring process is moving, that could change in a heartbeat.
LSU has never had a Black head football coach and should, so why not look at Sanders? He’s in the neighboring state, packed Jackson’s stadium, attracts media attention with ease and recruited one of the top classes in the nation in 2021, ranked ahead of Iowa State, UCF, BYU and TCU.
If he can do that in Mississippi for an HBCU school, imagine what he could do for an established SEC powerhouse like LSU.
That question is now moot but it’s one that needed to be asked.
What about Kasey Dunn, the offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma State Cowboys? He just racked up over 350 yards of offense on the Sooners so why not get him to continue Caleb Williams’ development? Now that Spencer Rattler has entered the transfer portal, it would be a great time to give the young Williams stability.
There are a smattering of other names but they don’t seem to be appealing enough for FBS Power 5, or even Group of 5, teams to pull the trigger.
This is both deflating and alarming.
While there are initiatives to help Black coaches, such as the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches launched by Maryland’s Mike Locksley, it didn’t arrive soon enough to help strengthen or replenish the Black coaching roster during one a time where openings at big-time programs are happening and moving at light speed.
So while the Black coaching pipeline in football is being rebuilt, the recycling continues.
And we’re all left asking “Where are the Black coaches?”
