Survey Discloses Little Progress for Black Coaches

There are seven black head coaches in Division I-A this season, which is seven more than four years ago. There are 11 black coordinators, eight more than held the most prized assistant job in 1991. Good news? Not when there are 111 I-A institutions. And not when more than half the football players in I-A are black.

“When we didn’t have any head coaches at all, it brought about a lot of attention,” says San Jose State professor Charles Whitcomb, the chair of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee. “People think, ‘Now, everything is cool.’ I don’t believe everything is cool.”

A survey by Newsday of the 111 coaching staffs, which each feature nine assistants, in Division I-A shows that 21.1% (211 of 999) of assistants are black. In 1991, according to a similar study conducted by The Dallas Morning News, blacks comprised 17.1% of 106 I-A staffs (163 of 954).

“There are some signs of cooperation and things are getting better slowly,” says Alex Wood, head coach at I-AA James Madison and a vice president of the Black Coaches Association. “They’re still too slow for my taste. We stress we would like our numbers in coaching to be the same way they are on the field. Until then, nobody’s happy.”

Alabama assistant head coach Woody McCorvey made his debut as offensive coordinator in the Crimson Tide’s 21-7 defeat of Bowling Green. Since this is McCorvey’s 25th year as an assistant coach, “debut” may not be the correct word. McCorvey began his career as an assistant at Tate High in Pensacola, Fla. He can remember when black coaches began to get college positions not because they could coach but because white head coaches wanted someone who could recruit black players and communicate with them.

“I knew in order for me to stay in coaching, it wouldn’t be because they needed a black coach,” he said. “I had to be able to do the job. . . . I don’t want for anything to be given to me because I’m black. Then again, I want to be treated fairly. I want the opportunity to have a chance at it.”

Gene Stallings promoted McCorvey from receivers coach to assistant head coach in 1993. That job generally includes a number of administrative duties. To the public, it appears to be a title and little more. “I got into an argument with Gene a couple of years ago,” Wood says. “He’s a friend of mine. I asked him, ‘What’s more important? Assistant head coach or offensive coordinator.’ He said, ‘assistant head coach.’ So I asked him, ‘What’s that mean?’ He said, ‘Woody’s the best coach I got.’ ”

Now McCorvey is both. He joins John Eason of South Carolina to make the Southeastern Conference the only league with two black offensive coordinators. The Newsday survey of I-A institutions showed that the Pacific 10 had the highest average of black assistant coaches (2.4 per staff) and the Atlantic Coast Conference ranked ninth among the 10 I-A leagues (1.56 per staff). When asked for a comment, ACC Commissioner and NCAA President Gene Corrigan says, “I was not aware of that. It’s never been brought up. It’s never been an issue. Should it be? I don’t know.”

Of course it should. Wood says the BCA’s only weapon is public attention. “There’s nothing else you can do about it,” Wood says.