Over the last three days, college football experienced a flurry of head coaching hires.
Nebraska recalled Matt Rhule back to the college ranks as their new head coach.
Wisconsin stole Luke Fickell away from Cincinnati, Arizona State hired Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham and Hugh Freeze returned to the SEC as Auburn’s head coach.
Several other vacancies still exist, including Stanford after David Shaw stepped down.
These decisions were quick and decisive, and apparently without interviews or deliberation.
And therein lies the issue.
Not one Black coach, or a coach of color, reportedly received consideration for these jobs.
Nebraska and Auburn actually replaced their history-making head coaches, Mickey Joseph and Cadillac Williams, on Monday with Rhule and Freeze, respectively. They were never given serious consideration despite the jobs they did.
And yes, Colorado did offer Deion Sanders their head coaching job, but so far that’s the lone exception.
Outside of Colorado, this hiring period exemplifies the biased system that predominantly prefers to recycle white coaches while failing/refusing to give serious consideration to coaches of a darker shade.
And that goes for the media too, which many times fails to inject Black coaches into the discussion.
To be clear, this is not an attack on the recently hired coaches. They have proven resumes and demonstrated success, so it’s nothing personal against them.
Yet, some are given passes for past indiscretions that winning, or certain individuals, excuse.
Look at Kansas’ hiring of Les Miles despite the baggage he brought with him from LSU.
How about Missouri State hiring Bobby Petrino after his infamous motorcycle accident while with Arkansas?
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