Black coaches in major NCAA football conferences are few and far between – and that distance grew larger when Texas fired beleaguered Charlie Strong last Saturday. He was replaced by former Houston coach Tom Herman.
Yes, Strong had a losing record, which included an embarrassing overtime loss to Kansas two weeks ago. Yes, Texas struggled in the Big 12 and failed to reach a bowl game this year.
But FoxSports analyst Tim Brando told the Dallas Morning News that race played a role in Strong never being backed by big-time Texas boosters.
“They were just anti-Charlie Strong from the get-go and that’s the issue. That’s the issue. But I got to tell you, from the moment (billionaire booster) Red McCombs had to reel in his statements about the hiring of Charlie Strong, you could see that there was a cultural problem he was going to have to face in the time that he was there. There’s no getting around that,” Brando said.
“I know fans hate it when media brings up the race card. They’ll just say you’re one of those typical liberal guys. Check my politics. I’m not a liberal. But when it comes to social issues and the plight of Charlie Strong as a head coach, he was passed over a couple times at Florida when he should have been a head coach. He finally got to Louisville and, after a couple of years of struggling, he went 22-3 in his last two years there. It was good enough for Texas to hire him. But the pushback was immediate from influential people with decimal points on their checks that were way up there.
“He never was going to get beyond that. I think that the notion that we can just bury our heads in the sand over this is gargantuan. You can’t. Clearly there was an agenda against Charlie Strong the likes of which we haven’t seen of any coach taking a job of that magnitude.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Sumlin has led Texas A&M to an 8-4 record and a bowl appearance, but somehow finds himself on a hot seat.
FootballScoop.com reported Sunday “Texas A&M’s struggles in November (which coincided with the injury to quarterback Trevor Knight) had some wondering whether the administration might consider making a change, but sources (say) Texas A&M’s administration strongly supports Kevin Sumlin.”
The Aggies started the season 6-0 with wins over UCLA, Arkansas and Tennessee. But they’re 2-4 over their last six games, including losses to both Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
While Sumlin seems to be safe, it seems he will need a SEC Championship game appearance in 2017 to ensure future employment with Texas A&M. SMU coach Chad Morris was rumored to be interested in the Texas A&M job – he played there – but his Mustangs got hammered by Navy last weekend and the bloom is off that rose, for now.
Inclusion and soccer in St. Louis
Finally, someone has dared to rough the great Peacock’s feathers.
We should give thanks to Don Cordes, CEO of Foundry St. Louis, one of two competing alliances working to bring an expansion Major League Soccer franchise to St. Louis.
SC STL, which includes former Anheuser-Busch Cos. executive David Peacock and St. Louis FC founder Jim Kavanaugh, announced in November a tentative deal to construct a $200-million soccer stadium west of Union Station. The proposal included up to $80 million in public financing.
As SC STL, Mayor Slay and other city leaders scramble to include a proposal on the April election ballot, Cordes’ group has apparently stepped up and offered to cover the $80 million.
A letter dated November 23 that Cordes wrote to SC STL popped up on STL Soccer blog. Cordes takes issue with the SC STL proposal, but says the two groups could complete a stadium project with Foundry providing the needed $80 million.
“Foundry’s investment effectively guarantees City of St. Louis receives an expansion franchise under the verbal agreement reached with MLS,” Cordes’ letter states.
The most exciting part of the correspondence is Cordes’ commitment to minority workers, vendors and suppliers and inclusion. He acknowledges that race and poverty must be addressed in this and all other major economic development proposals.
Cordes wrote, “I founded the ownership group to ensure that if City of St. Louis acquired a MLS franchise it would do so the right way. Doing business in an open, transparent, diverse and inclusive manner that did everything possible to avoid public subsidies for a new stadium.”
Cordes said his group has met with city NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt, and representatives of Forward Through Ferguson and the Little Bit Foundation. “Because Foundry is an ownership group, yes, but it also represents an acceleration of the community-wide discussion on public transportation, public education, public safety and socioeconomic inclusion and racial equality.”
He called equality and inclusion “top priorities” for Foundry.
Cordes said the MLS franchise should not be “an anchor dragging on City finances and services. Rather it should employ minority-owned consultants, vendors, and contractors; create salaried and high-wage jobs, spur population growth and advance the conversation about racial equality and economic inclusion.”
I invite you to read the entire letter: http://www.stlsoccerreport.com/home/2016/11/28/foundry-st-louis-wants-to-cover-city-share.
As of Tuesday morning, there was no response from SC St. Louis. Hopefully, Peacock and company will join with Cordes and weave his proposals into their MLS expansion plan. Cordes’ thoughts on inclusion have as much value as the $80 million he is offering. If SC St. Louis fails to realize this, the region should prepare for another stinging disappointment.
Goodbye Onion
Richard “Onion” Horton should be in the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame. His opinions rankled both black and white listeners, but he knew what he spoke of and was as entertaining as any person who has ever appeared on radio or TV in St. Louis.
There are so many gems that I can remember, here are two.
He once said on a show on 1600AM when Black Talk Radio existed in the late 1990s, “White people could care less what black people have to say. They don’t like it, that is why they respond. But they really could care less.”
He spoke to those of us who attended the first Minority Journalism Workshop in January 1977, and a somewhat heated argument erupted. Horton, while pointing to his head, shouted, “The white man took the chain off your ankle and he put it on your brain!”
Horton passed away last week, and St. Louis lost one of its most endearing men.
