College FB coaching openings

Another coaching vacancy has been filled by African American. This time its at Yale University as Jacksonville Jaguars assistant Tom Williams has been hired to become the first black head football coach at the Ivy League school.

 

Nick Holt bailed at Idaho after one year to go back to an assistant's spot at USC. Idaho is a dead-end if ever there was one.

There was absolutely NO WAY that Auburn was going to hire Turner Gill, or any other black, as head coach. Coordinator? Yeah. Head coach? No.

A head football coach is the most publicly visible person in the entire university. Do you think the powers that be at Auburn -- bastion of the Old South --- could tolerate having a black person in that capacity? The guy could go 13-0, win the national championship and walk on water and he still would not be embraced by a large portion of the school alums and boosters.

He'd have a better chance of being accepted at Yale than he would at Auburn. It's just a societal thing.

 

Holt actually was at Idaho for two years. Yes, Idaho is the deadest end in America thanks largely to its facilities and stubborn unwillingness to do the things needed to make them better.

But I am not sure I am getting your point. My point was, when comparing Walker and Holt, it's a very short conversation. Had Walker wanted to return to SC, the opportunity was there but he actually probably wanted to be a DC in more than name alone, as he would have been at SC. We'll get to see what Holt does now that he's DC at Washington.

On Auburn -- and perhaps this has been addressed already on this thread -- was passing on Gill more about his skin color or that of his wife?

 

Tommy Tuberville essentially did that in 2004 and they still hated him.

 

Yale to hire its first black head football coach

 

Two years ago the Minnesota job came down to either Charlie Strong or Tim Brewster.

Today, the Gophers announced their OC was leaving to pursue other professional opportunities.

Fear The Gopher!

 

Mike Dunbar is regarded as an offensive wizard at Northwestern. He parlayed that into a HC gig at Northern Iowa, where he couldn't get the Panthers into the playoffs in his four years.

Dunbar's philosophy didn't equate to a damn thing everywhere he has gone since leaving Northwestern.

Yeah, no one bitched at Minnesota for not hiring Strong, but when it comes to southern schools, we get all high and mighty about those schools for not hiring.
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Forgive me for being an ass, but the Ivy League has been in existence longer than the SEC. As progressive as we think the Ivy is, it took them this damn long to hire a brother to be their football coach? I find ourselves to be hypocrites, spending all of time ripping the SEC (and somewhat rightfully so) for not hiring an African-American to be a head football coach.

Amazing that the Ivies flew under the radar and we didn't bother to look elsewhere.

 

Actually, Norries Wilson was the first black football coach at an Ivy League school when he took the Columbia job in 2005.

Which makes me wonder: the Pac 10 has had Willingham and Dorrell, the SEC has had Croom, the Big 12 Prince, the ACC has Randy Shannon, the WAC and MAC has had a few, the Mountain West has Locksley and Conference USA has Ken Sumlin. Has the Big East, Sun Belt or the Big 10 ever had black coaches? I'm just curious.

 

Being a good coordinator doesn't always translate to being a good head coach. Add that to the fact that when a team goes outside the organization to hire a head coach, they are usually in a rebuilding stage. Put those two together and you see why more fail than succeed.

 

Bobby Williams at Michigan State leaps to mind. And Francis Peay and Denny Green at Northwestern.

Jerry Baldwin coached at Louisiana-Lafayette and Matt Simon was at UNT, though the Mean Green may have been in the Big West in those days.

 

How the mighty have fallen.

http://www.kwtx.com/sports/headlines/37160184.html

 

Matt Simon became UNT head coach when the Mean Green belonged to the Southland Football League, a name the Southland Conference had briefly. But I think UNT left the league the next year, something that had been in the works a couple of years.