Meeting Clemson’s four-star offensive recruits

By Robert Rousseau  |   Thursday, December 11, 2008  |  Comments( 13 )

 Clemson Tigers
As the Clemson Tigers ready for their bowl game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and usher in the era of new head coach Dabo Swinney, next year probably seems pretty distant to most. Still, the work being done right now on the recruiting trail will have as much to do with how Swinney’s club plays in the future as anything else. Along with that,...
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CommentsComments: 13
 No.1
RazzMaTazz		 03:15 AM
12/12/2008
Two 280 lb. guys that run the 40 in 4.7x seconds? Make THEM running backs!
 No.2
NB		 01:30 PM
12/12/2008
I am going to make a statement about the condition of college football's ridicious handling of hiring African -American head coaches. This debacle of certain coaches that have been hired at the openings that have been is as defiant of a statement that college ADs and Presidents are making. It appears that they are unashamedly saying: "we don't wan't black coaches to run our programs". Richard Lapchick,
director of The Inst. of Diversity & Ethics in Sport, he says that, "there needs to be a civil rights movement declared in college football". I agree with him. There needs to be a Rooney Rule or something that forces these bigoted ADs and Presidents to be fair in their hiring practices. The days of Kennasaw Landis, the revered redneck of Major League Baseball are gone. It is almost 2009 for crying out loud. Perhaps the picket signs should start, and the sit-ins, and the boycotts should start. Perhaps black athletes should protest by only signing with the schools that have black head coaches. Something has to give, and maybe this ignorance of schools refusing to hire black coaches will start a new revolution. Movements and revolution are always the result of ignorant, bold acts of discrimination, and what's going on in college football coaching vacancies this particular year is as bold as ADs have been in saying "we don't want your kind to coach at our school". To want black young men to sweat and die on your fields like mules and horses, to bring money into your programs like endentured servants, use and exploit them for you own benefit, but not give them the opportunity to lead and direct, is a brutal insult to any human being. it is inexcusable, and has no merit or rationality at all. Three black head coaches at 120 Div. I schools. The NCAA needs to be ashamed of themselves.
 No.3
RazzMaTazz		 11:08 PM
12/12/2008
I am opposed to discrimination. I am also opposed to quotas.

NB: Can you name any realistically available black coaches that you would have liked Clemson to hire over the realistically available white coaches that were at the top of everybody's lists? I can't. And it's not because I'm a racist. I just can't think of any. If the athletic directors also can't come up with a list of great black candidates, then I can't blame the ADs for not hiring black coaches. I say hire the best man for the job regardless of race, religion, sexual preference, etc.

I wonder if the problem goes lower. Maybe the lack of black head coaches at the assistant level is leading to a lack of head coaching candidates. Or maybe there's almost no problem at all. Maybe black college athletes tend to go pro while white athletes tend to go into coaching (as graduate assistants who then work their way up the ladder). Maybe there are cultural differences that lead to different career choices. I'd be surprised if discrimination didn't play some role. But I'd also be surprised if racism is that rampant among highly educated ADs and coaches who spend much of their lives playing and working with athletes of all races and religions. I don't know why the numbers are the way they are. If there is racism, then forcing schools to interview black candidates won't solve the problem. I say prosecute any discrimination. Otherwise let the free market work.
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