The Sad Condition ...of Black Coaches in College Football

Another one bites the dust.....

Kansas State head football coach, Ron Prince was fired today effective at seasons end. Prince, once a promising offensive coordinator at Virginia , was hired in 2006 to replace the retiring Bill Snyder. This was his first head coaching job.

2 and 1/2 years later.....Prince has a 16-18 record , including 4-5 this year. Snyder was a consistent winner in 17 years as the Wildcats coach, with at least 10 wins seven times, and reached bowl games 12 straight seasons (1992-2003).

Prince went 7-6 and went to a bowl game in his first season.....but it's been down hill since (5-7 last season and losing 4 of 5 Big 12 games this year). And....he is 0-3 against in state rival Kansas.

Kansas State.....took a chance.....hired a virtually unknown coach in Prince.....and Prince has failed.

This comes on the heels of another failure.......Tyrone Willingham of Washington. His pitiful team was blasted by USC 56-0 last week to go 0-8. Willingham was mercifully relieved of his duties....effective at the end of the season also.

That leaves only four black head coaches in the 119 school NCAA division 1 football programs.

In 2 years.....or less ........that number could dwindle down to two.


Here's why.....of the 4 remaining.........Sylvester Croom (pictured at left, Mississippi State), Randy Shannon (Miami), Kevin Sumlin (Houston), and Turner Gill ( Buffalo)........Only Gill and Shannon have made significant improvements at their schools this year.

Houston is 4-4........Mississippi State is 5-4.......While Buffalo is 5-4 and Miami is 6-3.

Face it.......Croom will never be able to get Mississippi State to compete in the SEC West. Nobody can. Mississippi simply does not have the resources to battle Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas consistently. Another year of 6-5 or 5-6.....the boosters will have had enough....and Croom will be gone.

Same with Kevin Sumlin at Houston.......Not a real pressure pot job....they play in the Conference USA.......but......tradition runs deep.....and the University will not settle for .500 seasons.

In Miami, Shannon does have the program moving in the right direction......after losing 3 of there first 5, Miami has won 4 straight....including 2 on the road.....If the team comes back next year....with even more improvement......Shannon may be safe.....for years to come.

As for Gill (pictured)..........

he took over a joke of a football team..... From 1999 ( when they first joined division 1 football) till 2006......the team played in a 30,000 seat stadium with about a 1,000 fans per game showing up......and consistently finishing 1-11 or 0-12.

Gill's first season was not much better (2-10)........Last year , 5-7 (5-3 in the MAC).....This year, the team is 5-4....and 3-2 in conference play.....and sits tied for 1st in the east division.

Out of all 6 black coaches this year........Turner Gill is the only one making a huge statement....of .......how to coach........

One ........out of six........out of 119......

I Think it's about time to start thinking outside of that proverbial box. It is obvious the new , young black head coaches are not going to come out of the college ranks.

So........bring on the NFL!

Tony Dungee.....where are you? Marvin Lewis..........Romeo Crennel..........Lovie Smith......Mike Tomlin?

It is going to take the likes of one of these coaches.....to take a big time college job.......and show the world........yes........a black man can coach at a major college program....and win.

With ........."no thanks" .....to Mr. Prince and Mr. Willingham..........the state of black coaches in division 1 football is sad.

Time for some "changes"..........

Six............Soon to be .....Five?

Seems the natives are getting restless in UCLA land......fifth year Bruin head coach Karl Dorrell is feeling the heat from fans and boosters....

UCLA's Dorrell gets no slack in cyberspace (LA Times)

Dorrell took over a scandal laced UCLA program in 2003, going 6-7 in his initial year. In 2004, the Bruins went 6-6 , 2005, they were 10-2, and last year they had a 7-6 record. This season the Bruins are 5-2 over all and 4-0 in the Pac-Ten. Dorrell is one of six black head coaches out of the 119 division 1-A schools. Much of the criticism is aimed at the inconsistency of his team. Last Saturday, UCLA upset previously ranked #10 Cal, 30-21.......but has had deflating and embarrassing losses to Utah (44-6) and most recently, Notre Dame (20-6). Of the six black head coaches, Dorrell has the most high profile program -- competing in LA against Pete Carroll and the likes. Here's how the Six compare in 2007 salary and wins &losses:

Ty Willingham (Washington) $1,414,772 (2-5)

Randy Shannon (Miami) 1,000,000 (5-3)

Sylvester Croom(Miss St) 940,000 (4-4)

Karl Dorrell (UCLA) 881,000 (5-2)

Ron Prince (Kansas St) 750,000 (4-3)

Turner Gill (Buffalo) 183,000 (3-5)

See http://coacheshotseat.com/CoachesHotSeatRanking.htm


Randy Shannon of Miami seems to have the most job security.......of course he's in his first year......Sylvester Croom is in a no win situation. We give him a year......no longer. Our sympathies go out to Ty Willingham. Why? Of the 7 teams Washington has played this year, only Syracuse was not ranked...and that was the first game of the season. In consecutive weeks the Huskies faced, Ohio State, UCLA, USC, Arizona State, and Oregon......All ranked in the top 25!!!