White shadows

In response to the L.A. Times article “Black Coaches Dwindle to Four [Nov. 7],” I find the noted statistics sad indeed and agree that there should be more people of color getting an opportunity to coach college football, if they are qualified. However, I would like to point out that the situation in college basketball is much different and deserves equal time, with blacks occupying an overwhelmingly disproportionate number of Division I head and assistant coaching positions relative to their proportion of the American population (a little less than 13% in our last census).

I speak from personal experience when I say I have been turned down for coaching positions specifically because I am white, this from the people who were doing the hiring, some of them white, some black.

At what point do we as a society stop worrying about color? When we elect a biracial president? When every group is exactly proportionate to their numbers in our society regardless of ability? My guess is, that in my lifetime, the answer is “never,” as the changes seem to occur at glacial speed, though one must give kudos to basketball for being in the front of the line on this issue, even if it is at the cost of some.

David Spencer

Riverside