Dino Babers, noted for his success as head coach at Eastern Illinois University and Bowling Green, has been named the 30th head coach at Syracuse University.
In his four years at those two schools (two seasons at each), Babers posted a 37-16 record, including an 18-9 mark at Bowling Green. His Falcons topped Northern Illinois on Sunday night to win the Mid-American Conference championship game. He then got the call from Syracuse.
His hurry-up offense helped compile more than 43 points and 561 yards per game this season. His hiring should also be celebrated because NCAA football teams seeking new coaches weren’t in a hurry to hire black candidates.
Babers’ former job at Bowling Green remained open as of Tuesday, as did head coach openings at BYU, East Carolina, Louisiana-Monroe and Tulane.
Between the start and end of the 2015 FBS college football season, 23 head coaches were fired, resigned or moved on other programs. Only one of those jobs has been filled by a black man, Babers at Syracuse.
Curtis Johnson of Tulane and Virginia’s Mike London, both black, are no longer on their respective jobs. London was replaced by BYU’s Bronco Mendenhall.
Locally, Missouri chose its defensive coordinator Barry Odom to replace the departed Gary Pinkel. Players wildly celebrated when they got the news of Odom’s hiring. I wonder if the black players who threatened to boycott games and practices unless MU’s former president Tim Wolfe resigned inquired if any black candidates were interviewed for the job.
After Al Golden got the heave-ho at Miami with a 4-3 record, African-American assistant coach Larry Scott served as interim head coach. He went 4-1 and will lead the Hurricanes into the December 26 Sun Bowl battle against Washington State University in El Paso, Texas. The school thanked him by hiring Mark Richt as head coach less than a week after Georgia dumped him.
NBC Profootballtalk reported on Tuesday that Miami and USC officials requested permission to interview Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson for their respective openings, but the NFL team refused to grant permission.
After Rutgers’ meltdown under head coach Kyle Flood (3-6 record, Flood’s suspension, multiple player arrests), black assistant head coach Norries Wilson was named interim coach and won one of three games. Chris Ash, Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, was named head coach for the Scarlet Knights.
The University of Central Florida, who along with the University of Kansas posted 0-12 records, fired coach George O’Leary at 0-8. Black assistant coach Danny Barrett went 0-4 as interim head coach. He most likely will not be retained by new head coach Scott Frost.
USC, like Missouri, promoted an assistant to fill its head coaching vacancy. Clay Helton replaced Steve Sarkisian after the former head coach’s battle with alcohol led to his dismissal. Helton went 5-2 as interim and will coach the Trojans in the Holiday Bowl on December 29 against Wisconsin.
Helton promptly fired several assistants, including defensive line coach Chris Wilson and defensive backs coach Keith Heyward, who are black. He did keep receivers coach Tee Martin – for now.
Illinois fired its embattled coach Tim Beckman a week before the season began. Interim head coach Bill Cubit posted a 5-7, non-bowl game season, and he was rewarded with a surprising two-year contract commitment.
Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa State, Maryland, Memphis, Minnesota, North Texas, South Carolina, Toledo and Virginia Tech are the other schools that did not hire an African-American head coach to fill openings.
The lack of black leadership is apparent throughout college athletics, according to the 2015 Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport report on college athletics released in November.
White men or women held 87.7 percent of the FBS athletic director positions in 2014. At Division II, 91.5 percent of the ADs were white, and it was 94.5 percent in Division III. Just 9.6 percent of FBS ADs were women.
When Judy McCloud was hired as commissioner of Conference USA in October, she became the first woman commissioner at the FBS level. There are no FBS African-American commissioners. Of 128 FBS athletic director positions, just 26 are held by blacks.
Sixteen women and 11 non-white males currently serve as FBS university presidents, a number that increased by one when Mizzou’s Wolfe stepped down and was replaced by Michael Middleton.
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on KETC channel 9’s most-popular show “Donnybrook” and is also a radio commentator and author.
