The Arena...

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It could be just a coincidence or maybe it is a clever plan. Whatever the case, it seems like major college football will stop at nothing to prevent its head coaching hiring practices from being inclusive.   Back in the day, the excuse athletic directors used for only hiring coaches who resembled them was they weren’t aware of any potential African-American candidates. In other words, there weren’t any brothas in their circles.   The Black Coaches Association and its executive director Floyd Keith have since taken care of that problem by bombarding every Division I-A school with a football vacancy with a list of qualified African-American candidates they can consider.

 But leave it to these excuse-making institutions to change the game once they were cornered. Many schools are now adopting the policy of naming a successor to the Thrown even before the old emperor has retired. Florida State is doing it. Purdue is doing it. Kentucky is doing it (okay, the successor there is actually an African-American coach). And this week, the University of Texas jumped into the coach-in-waiting game Tuesday by naming hot-shot defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as the successor to Mack Brown whenever he decides to retire or step aside.   No selection committee. No list of candidates. No interviews. No process.   Can we say a big old fat F for the University of Texas when the BCS releases its report card that monitors the hiring practices of these major schools when they have football openings?

   The reality is these universities and their rich white supporters don’t give the BCA or its report card a second thought. They just march forward, changing the rules as they see fit to ensure the exclusive coaching fraternity remains predominantly white.   Who knows how many Conference-USA titles University of Houston coach Kevin Sumlin might win and how my Bowl Championship Series bowls he might crash in the next four or five years, which would make him primed candidate to head up the program less than 200 miles away in Austin? Apparently Texas and the Longhorns faithful have no interest in finding out.

  A couple years ago, I had a conversation with University of Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds about some of the top African-American offensive and defensive coordinators who might be on his radar when the day comes=2 0Brown steps aside. Dodd said he was aware of some and felt there needed to be more but then assured me the University of Texas is not the kind of program that takes a chance on an unproven head coach.   His priorities obviously changed during these past two years.

 Dodds did an about-face with Tuesday’s announcement that 37-year-old Muschamp, who is in his first year with the Longhorns, would be the head coach designated to replace the 57-year-old Brown. Exactly when is anybody’s guess. But UT bumped his salary $425,000 to $900,000 annually _ the highest such salary for any assistant coach in college football.

  Some would say the Longhorns had little choice with Washington, Clemson and Tennessee all said to be lining up to lure Muschamp away in a few weeks. Others say it’s just another excuse to make sure the Longhorns football tradition continues with African-American talent between the lines but not on the sidelines.

This story is filed under: Sports