hiring Groom as head coach? I think it is about time and I can't believe MSU was the first in the SEC to do so. (espn reported) There were only four black head football coaches among 117 Division I-A football schools this season. "I'm happy to see Mississippi State step up," John Mitchell, a Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach and former teammate of Crooms' at Alabama, told ESPN.com. "I've had some bad views of the state of Mississippi for a long time, since I was growing up. For them to beat Alabama and the rest of the states not only to hire an African-American coach, but someone as qualified as Sylvester Croom, it says a lot for them." What do you think the reason people are soooo reluctant to hire a black coach?????
I dont really care. I dont think race should be the major issue that it is. All I know is that I want a great coach at LSU, and we have that in Nick Saban. He happens to be white. If he were black, that would be ok. If he were Samoan, that would be ok. I just want a good football team. The things some people said about Shula getting the Alabama job over Croom made it seem like they would have given the job to Croom simply because he was black. That aint right. Im no expert at evaluating coaching ability, so I dont know who is better than anyone else (unless they have had previous head coaching experience). I hope Croom fails, but not because he is black, just because he is the head coach at MSU. I hope all the rest of the SEC west coaches fail, too.
I think that there are a lot of pissed-off Bama fans right now. There are a lot of them that wanted Sly Croom over Mike Shula. Hell, there were a lot of them that wanted Croom over Mike Price. Black or white...it didn't matter. Sly Croom was "one of the Bahr's boys".
Well, prejudice has unfortunately been a widespread problem, but I also heard a logical explanation: Take a look at head coaches, and look at how long they've been in the coaching profession. Often they start in their late teens or early twenties, and will sometimes not get a head coaching job until their 50's. The opportunities for blacks as assistants have blossomed, and as time goes on, we'll see more and more of them become head coaches, due to their experience.
They wanted Jimbo, Croom was #2 for Miss St. No race issue, they just hired their #2 pick. If it was a race issue they would have had Doug W., Croom, Green, D Sanders, or anyone remotely qualified on their short list.
I too am sick of race being an issue in every facet of our lives. I love what Croom said today, "It's not about me or my race, it is about those guys" (pointing to some of his players). I find it really hard to believe that just being black would prevent anyone from being hired. There is too much money with winning. Are there problems finding black athletes? No, too much money. Same with coaching, if a program believes a coach of any race will help win, then bring him on. There was SO MUCH outrage when Notre Dame hired O'Leary at first, even though he is Irish as is the school that hired him. How dare they hire an Irishman to coach the Irish(sarcasm). Then they hired Willingham, and he has brought the program even lower. NOT because he is black, but I thought he had not done much at all at Stanford to be heralded as the savior of Notre Dame. Then you have Marvin Lewis, who has done a ridiculously good job in Cincinnati. He had proven himself, and deserved that position. As long as someone is deserving and not hyped because of race then I applaud this diversity. But if schools feel pressure to hire someone simply b/c they are a minority, then that is ashame.
