Houston, We Have A Problem
by

Gary Gray

Tuesday, November 30, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, fired Tyrone Willingham right in the middle of his five-year contract. This latest division one firing has created major shock waves throughout the college world and it might send the (NCAA) National Collegiate Athletic Association back to the drawing board on procedures of hiring and firing African American Coaches. The NCAA should look at the (NFL’s) National Football League’s hiring polices in the future.

The (BCA) Black Coaches Association stated that it was very disappointed with the decision and that there would be recommendations forth coming. A study last month on the process of how division one schools hire head coaches was released by the BCA. The study revealed that 95 percent of the university presidents are white, 93 percent of the athletic directors are white, and 91 percent of the faculty athletic representatives are white. It maybe concluded that 95 % of the head coaches is also white. This creates an astounding effect on the hiring and firing of African American coaches because it is the majority who becomes the decision-makers or breakers. If these schools hire African American university presidents, athletic directors, and faculty athletic representatives, more African American head coaches would follow.

The fighting Irish have had an inconsistent football season this year. They beat ranked Michigan and Tennessee, then lost to unranked (BYU) Brigham Young University, Pittsburgh, and Boston College. The last straw came with the nationally televised drubbing in Los Angeles. by the University of Southern California, with a score of 41-10. The Trojans have beat up Notre Dame the past three years.

Willingham is the third African American coach to be released, dismissed, or fired by a division one-college football program this year. There are only two African American coaches left in this division. Karl Dorrell now heads UCLA, and rookie coach Sylvester Croom heads Mississippi State University. Both coaches have struggling football programs. Historically, African Americans have been hired for some of the nation's most ineffective football programs. We are reminded that Dennis Green (present Arizona Cardinals head coach) pulled Northwestern University Huskies out of the dark ages in the 1970’s.

Willingham was the first African American to coach at Notre Dame and will go down in history as the 5th coach at South Bend since the hall of fame coach Ara Parseghian in 1964. He is also the first African American in any Fighting Irish sports department.

Willingham’s record 21-15 speaks for itself. The Fighting Irish did not or could not recruit big impact players--players who could turn the game around on one play. They needed players like Rocket Ishmael or Jerome Betties, both N. D. alumni; players who could return kickoffs when their teams trail by more then 14 points. Young African American athletes are going elsewhere.

Tyrone Willingham was placed in a no-win position. He stressed academics just as he had done at Stanford University. The student athletes at South Bend responded with a 75 % graduate rate. The Administration at N.D. should have kept him on that fact alone. Notre Dame wanted to win NOW and it wanted to maintain its high scholastic standards. The same could be stated of Stanford and The University of California-Berkeley. All three schools have suffered losing or mediocre football seasons. High standards are costly, and can cost the lost of great athletes to other universities.

Coach Fitz Hill at San Jose State University and Coach Tony Samuel at New Mexico State University resigned in early November. This is a very disturbing trend in college football.

Hill never received the support from the San Jose community or from the university. Hill wanted to drop SJSU to 1-AA so the Spartans could have a winning record, but the university wanted to keep its 1-A standing. The Spartans only had one winning season with Hill. The competition overwhelmed San Jose State University and cost his job.

More than fifteen coaches were dismissed this fall: Gary Crowton, of BYU, Gerry DiNardo, at Indiana University, and David Cutcliffe, head coach at University of Mississippi, the latest on December 1. This gives NCAA an opportunity to correct this problem.

How many universities will grant African Americans interviews? The question remains, will the big schools like The University of Washington, Stanford, Ohio State or the small schools like UNLV, Utah State, Western Michigan, and Eastern Carolina give any African American coach the opportunity? Will they be able to sign a contract for the upcoming college football season?

There is no doubt that Willingham stood firm on athletic scholarship achievements first, rather than football achievements. Maybe the NCAA can learn a lesson from his integrity.

THAT IS THE GRAYLINE