Project Logic Ga

We learned this week that college football head coach Turner Gill of Buffalo and University of Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong feel they were passed up for other coaching positions because they have white wives.  I briefly attend UF during graduate school but decided that a Black college was the better place for me to study the specific subject matter of my field; the same reason I did not attend UGA for my last two years of undergrad. 

Sometimes, you want to be surrounded by people who are like-minded and yes UGA actually had more Black students than my HCBU but it did not feel right for me personally.  I think coach Gill’s and coach Strong’s wives are factors in the top level college coaching searches in the South but I think the bigger factor is that SEC and ACC head coaches are not just ball coaches. 

They are heads of subcultures (Bulldog Nation, Gator Nation, War Eagles, the Tide) that resonate in most aspects of southern life for professionals—marriage, friendship, business, and culture.  We use to say at Florida that we had culture and UGA had agriculture but seriously, the events surrounding gameday and the local alumni chapters would be similar to the African-American professional community in the south being involved with fraternities and sororities until death. 

A good-looking SEC football head coach travels the South to visit alumni chapters and encourage financial support for the university—some flirting necessary. While it might be a violation of EEOC regulations, coaches had better be tall and strong like Bear Bryant; smooth and cool like Richt, Dooley and Spurrier; or one helleva winner.   Fans and supporters make million dollar connections at team events.  SEC fans in there early 20s meet their spouses while watching the game at thousands of bars and clubs across the nation.  Ivy league southern politicians like Congressman Jim Marshall from Princeton actually are second-class socially to UGA and Tech grads. 

Black football players should feel comfortable at state schools because every citizen of the state technical owns these universities.  Gladiators of the gridiron bring glory and revenue to schools that sometime treat other Black students as guest or exchange students.  Mississippi State gave Sylvester Croom an opportunity that the University of Alabama should have given him (he played for Bear Bryant) but I was never confident that grumpy Croom would be fully accepted by the magnolia mansion crowd if he did not win the SEC champion soon. 

Those coaches are similar to congressmen and real dudes get weary of back-patting, picture-taking and half-smiling—it’s not just Xs and Os.

If certain SEC and ACC schools won’t give head coaching opportunities to Black coaches, then Miami’s Black coach can get the best Black talent (like Notre Dame gets the best Catholic talent) and win national champions.  To be fair, Black players can have a great experience with great White coaches like UF’s Urban Myers and USC Pete Carroll.  60 Minutes did a recent story about Carroll’s involvement with inner city Los Angeles gangs—he goes places I would never take my Black behind.    

The modern plantation system known as southern college and high school football needs change.  At Worth County High School (my HS) in Sylvester, Georgia, Robert Toomer broke Herschel Walker’s rushing records (7,866 yards) before going to LSU.  But, he can’t get the WCHS head-coaching job for some reason.  On one side of the railroad tracks in this small southern town, an infant boy gets a red and black football put in his hands shortly after birth in hopes that he will play for the bulldogs one day—most never do.  On the other side of tracks, infant boys wear Nike basketball shoes despite the fact they can’t walk, in hopes they will play in the NBA—most never do.

Football coach lead players who will hopeful be  prepared for life.  The sweet part of the deal is that young Black football players in the SEC and ACC who form life-long business connections with their teammates, classmates and “the Nation” will benefit more than those who have short-lived, inquiry-plagued NFL careers.  If someone is trying to use you, use them for education and networking: a situation of mutual benefit.  Bulldog Nation did not trip when Herschel Walker was winning games for them and dating the woman (who doesn’t look like him) who later because his wife.  Evidently, they really wanted to win championships but that punches holes in coach Gill’s and coach Strong’s white wife argument. 

As for me, my bank account would be nicer if I gained entrance into the Bulldog Nation or fully membership in Gator Nation.  Funny thing: I appreciate the opportunity UF gave me and yes, some Black folks are screwed over at Black colleges.