Above the racial curve

MSU a leader in Big Ten with percentage of black coaches, organization sees room for improvement

Every fall, college football administrators around the country collectively hold their breath in anticipation of their grades. Atypical of grades normally seen on college campuses, these are released by the Black Coaches & Administrators, or BCA, and reflect on the demographics of black coaches in Division I football programs.

The BCA focuses more on the hiring process than a number or ratio of minority coaches. Even so, the number — four head football coaches at the end of the 2008-09 season — is not to the satisfaction of the organization comprised of influential black athletic administrators around the country.

BCA’s game plan and MSU

At MSU, there are 10 black coaches guiding student athletes in head, assistant or associate head coaching roles in 20 varsity sports. Seven of them are basketball or football coaches. The lone head coach is of men’s golf, a sport historically known for its dominance by white males.

“I’ve seen so many schools across the country that have less,” said MSU golf coach Sam Puryear, the first black golf head coach of a major Division I program. “And no one even seems to talk about it at those places. Here, they made a concerted effort to start trying to bring more (black coaches) in. It’s hard to in a sport like golf. I’m the only one.”

Although 10 black coaches of 69 total coaches — 14.49 percent — is an overwhelming minority, it ranks MSU in the upper percentile of the Big Ten.

No school has more black coaches — including Ohio State, which enlists a conference-high 93 head or assistant coaches in its 36 varsity programs. The only school with a higher percentage than MSU’s is Illinois, where 14.75 percent of the 61 coaches are black.

“We have coaches that are in very high leadership roles, especially in football and men’s basketball,” MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis said.

“Quotas and ratios are things that can damage you because they can take you away from the true core values as a department. If it’s 100 percent one way or another, is that right?”

For this reason, the BCA report card examines the search for coaching candidates, not percentages. It includes grades for time frame, communication, candidates, search committee and affirmative action. While the report deemed the 2008 numbers “meager” and calls for “a new game plan,” BCA executive director Floyd Keith said the data is improving.

“If we include coaches of color and the process is diverse, then you’ll see more African Americans’ service … if we can get enough folks in front of the decision makers.”

Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, is one of the most vocal proponents for the BCA’s aforementioned game plan. He says the NCAA needs a rule “mandating that people of color be interviewed for all head coaching positions with sanctions for those who do not.”

“People are afraid that people who want change think they have to hire a woman or black person, etc.,” Lapchick said. “But you can just do the right things in the hiring process. So if you hire a white guy, at least you went through the process and encourage colleges to do that.”

MSU’s coaching history

Lapchick commended MSU for its percentage of black coaches, but emphasized the difference between head and assistant coaches.

“Michigan State has had African American athletic directors and an African American football coach early in the game when other schools weren’t even trying to do that,” he said. “Michigan State has a very good historical record. In due time, they’ll return to that historical record.”

Merritt Norvell was the first black MSU athletics director from 1995-98 and was followed by Clarence Underwood from 1998-2002.

During that time, Bobby Williams was the football head coach and led the Spartans to the program’s most high-profile bowl victory since the 1988 Rose Bowl — a 37-34 last-second Citrus Bowl victory against No. 10 Florida in 2000 before losing his job after a loss to Michigan in 2002.

Williams, an assistant coach at Alabama, was the first and only black head coach through 40 MSU men’s basketball or football coaches.

Those two programs alone make up about 90 percent of the MSU Athletics Department revenue.

“The fact that I was black — that was a big issue at the time mostly because there were not very many black football coaches, as it is now,” he said. “It was a very rewarding time for me, but it was that for a lot of people that were involved. There are so many people that had come before me — so many great coaches who are recognized in MSU’s (Athletics) Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. Who’s ever had that opportunity? Black or white? Even though it didn’t work out the way I’d liked it to, it’s still a time in my life I will always remember and will always be thankful for those people who gave me that opportunity.”

Getting a top grade

The hiring committee that brought football head coach Mark Dantonio to MSU included a diverse council and a diverse applicant pool, consulting former Spartans football players Drew Stanton and Jehuu Caulcrick and administrators with the BCA and NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.

“We were really using them as viable resources to help find candidates to fit at MSU but also for a broad range of different backgrounds,” Hollis said. “I don’t know that (the report card) plays a part as long as you look at society as a whole when you’re going through the process.”

MSU received an “A” for hiring Dantonio, whose staff now includes three black men, including Don Treadwell, who Hollis said could make a mark as a head coach for the Spartans down the road or elsewhere. Hollis also placed men’s basketball associate head coach Mark Montgomery in the same boat.

“I think about it every day,” Montgomery said. “It’s what drives me to get up after a tough day and be in the office at 7:30. Most coaches get into it — I know I have — to be the head coach of a Division I program.”

Montgomery said there are different dynamics in every sport that lead young black sports participants to desire to coach.

“Growing up, I didn’t see as much hockey in my community, so I wasn’t interested in it and you don’t see as many minorities in that sport,” he said. “At a younger age, if there could be more opportunities growing up, there would be greater interest and more coaches and minorities would be involved in different sports. But we tried to get involved in sports that we liked and had been successful in and I would say that’s basketball, football and track and field.”

Hollis said it’s the responsibility of his department to take promising individuals, regardless of color and race, and develop them as leaders so they can move into influential positions at MSU or other schools.

“You would hope color of skin is never the determining factor for someone to get a job or not,” he said.

“The problem with that is making sure you have a pool of coaches, a group of individuals working with you that is reflective of society and that’s where it becomes very challenging.

“It’s always a factor, but it shouldn’t be.”