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Bob Wade’s Merits Appear to Be Issue Rather Than Race

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Baltimore Sun

Let’s see if it’s possible, amid the hysteria, to inject some perspective into Bob Wade’s situation at the University of Maryland.

A few years ago, there was another coach who, like Wade, believed he was being persecuted. His name was Bobby Ross, and he coached the Maryland football team.

Like Wade, Ross decried a lack of support from the administration for his program.

Like Wade, Ross said he was unfairly targeted by the media (as did, by the way, another basketball coach, a certain Lefty Driesell).

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Unlike Wade, Ross is white.

By far the most disturbing aspect of the Wade affair is the attempt by some to paint it in terms of black and white, or, more pointedly, black vs. white. For years, one fairly contemptible excuse for not hiring black coaches or managers has been that firing them would surely bring cries of racism. We should be careful not to feed that distorted logic. Blacks, like whites, must be hired and fired on their merits.

If Wade is under fire, it has nothing to do with the color of his skin. That is not to suggest that Wade has not faced prejudice in his life. Every black person in America has been a victim of racism. But Wade’s problems at the University of Maryland are clearly color-neutral.

His program is under investigation by the NCAA. If the allegations prove serious or if Wade is found to have covered them up, then he deserves to be fired. If they are not serious and if Wade has cooperated, he deserves to complete the last two years of his contract. That couldn’t be much clearer.

His problems, however, extend beyond the investigation. During his brief tenure, Wade has had difficulty holding on to this players. His first recruit flunked out of school. His top recruit transferred after a year. Another recruit was suspended for a year. Another player made the extraordinary decision to sit out his junior season, almost certainly because of his troubled relationship with Wade. And, of course, there is the win-loss record (9-20 last season), which shouldn’t be a factor. But it is a given: A coach with a losing record and a shaky program in a high-visibility market is going to undergo close scrutiny.

And yet, some in the Black Faculty and Staff Assn. at Maryland, in a rally held for Wade last week, suggested that race is at the heart of Wade’s problems. Dr. Ulysses J. Connor, an assistant to the dean of undergraduate studies and president of the BFSA, said he saw a disturbing pattern in the treatment of different coaches.

“There is clearly a double standard extended to the coaches in football and baseball, whose programs are in a serious state of disrepair,” said Connor, who didn’t need to point out that the football and baseball coaches are white.

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However, Connor is comparing apples and oranges, particularly in regard to the baseball coach. College baseball is a minor sport, a non-revenue-producing entity and therefore subject to little public scrutiny. Football Coach Joe Krivak, who has produced 4-7 and 5-6 records in his first two seasons, has not been involved in the off-the-field difficulties that Wade has faced.

Krivak’s program is not under investigation. When Krivak took over for Ross, he didn’t lose nearly half his players to other colleges. Furthermore, if Krivak, who has two more years on his contract, does not turn his program around, he is unlikely to be rehired.

On the other hand, the assessment that Wade lacks support of the administration--meaning athletic director Lew Perkins--is probably fair. Perkins and Wade don’t get along. Perkins, who didn’t hire Wade, would probably love to have a different basketball coach. But a personality conflict between a white administrator and a black coach does not necessarily equal racial disharmony.

Craig Littlepage, an assistant basketball coach at Virginia and who is black, was named head coach at Penn while Perkins was an assistant athletic director there. After Perkins moved to become the athletic director at Wichita State, Littlepage moved to Rutgers.

“Lew was very instrumental in me being hired at Penn,” Littlepage told The Sun’s Don Markus. “And he also helped me get the job at Rutgers.”

Littlepage described their relationship as “excellent.”

In any case, you can be sure that Perkins will not decide Wade’s fate. Rather, that task will be laid at the doorstep of Dr. William E. Kirwan, the university president, who probably won’t make any decision until the NCAA makes its report.

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Where the Maryland administration is open to criticism is for hiding behind the NCAA investigation. Either Kirwan or Perkins could have stepped forward to say that, unless anything serious is uncovered, Wade remains the basketball coach. Instead, they have left him hanging.

Support for Wade, even blind support, in the black community is understandable. As much as a coach, Wade is a symbol of black achievement, as the first and only black head basketball or football coach in the ACC. The pattern of racism is as obvious a it is indefensible, and all of us who care about furthering the cause of civil rights want to see black coaches and managers succeed.

In the Baltimore-Washington area, there has been an awakening to this sports-world injustice. The Orioles have in Frank Robinson the only black manager in baseball. The Bullets have a black coach in Wes Unseld. Georgetown has John Thompson, who doubled as the Olympic coach. And, of course, Maryland has Wade.

In that group, only Wade has suffered any real criticism. Robinson came through a 107-loss season virtually unscathed. Unseld is being touted by some in the local media, and with cause, as a candidate for NBA coach of the year. In many corners of greater Washington, Thompson might as well be a saint.

Why is Wade being singled out? Is it about race? Or is it about Bob Wade?

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