The NFL dominated on Thanksgiving night, with the Raiders and the Cowboys attracting over 38 million viewers. But since then, college football told the pros to hold their (non-alcoholic) beer.
Dominating the weekend was Michigan’s emotional thumping of Ohio State, a victory nine years in the making. But perhaps the most interesting and telling game was in Stillwater, Oklahoma where the annual “Bedlam” game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State took place.
While the Cowboys were victorious, the result wasn’t as big as the news that dropped the next day.
Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley, who was rumored to be headed to LSU, suddenly flew west and agreed to become the new head coach of the USC Trojans.
This was the third big coaching vacancy in college football. The others were at Florida, where Louisiana coach Billy Napier was hired to replace Dan Mullens, and at LSU, where Ed Orgeron’s time with the Tigers is over.
Late Monday night, one void was filled and another emerged, this time at Notre Dame as Brian Kelly, the winningest coach in Irish history, agreed to a 10-year, $100 million+ deal with LSU.
But in the flurry of coaching moves, an important question has emerged that has yet to be addressed.
Where are the Black coaches?
Here We Go Again
At the start of the year, the NFL set an embarrassing mark.
Despite having seven head coaching vacancies, only one Black coach, David Culley, was hired. The other coach of color hired was Robert Saleh of the Jets, who is the first Muslim-American head coach in NFL history.
Now it appears college football is adopting the NFL’s hiring playbook.
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