(This is one of my favorites too, probably right below the two King pieces.)
So this is the first of a TBD number of posts...well, if you read the last volume you already know the central theme of this month's posts. Let's get started.
I haven't seen the movie Black Swan and have no idea what it's about. I do know, though, that the 'black swan' concept is one in which you see one of something that is so different from everything else that its existence is really rare. I'm going to focus on a such phenomena, although I don't know if there ever has been one of these...the 'Black Bill Belichick'.
(Yes, I'm talking about football...but it only serves as part of a larger discussion. Sue me.)
For those who don't follow football, Belichick is the coach of the New England Patriots. He has three Super Bowl rings and was named the 2010 Coach of the Year. He is also the coach who illegally (well, it's against NFL rules) videotaped opponents. 'Spygate', as the situation came to be known, was so bad it helped get another coach - Josh McDaniels, who was a Belichick assistant before taking the Denver Broncos job - fired. In addition, Belichick has never been outwardly friendly toward...pretty much anyone. Media members often call him tight-lipped, standoffish, and so on. Belichick's lack of congeniality also helps drive this engine, but the main focus is the cheating.
Spygate occurred in 2007. That season the Patriots went undefeated until Ellis Hobbs fell down and Plaxico Burress made history in the Super Bowl, costing the Patriots the Super Bowl and what would have been the NFL's first-ever 19-0 season. The Patriots haven't won a playoff game since. They went through 2008 without star QB Tom Brady, whose knee was injured in the first game of the season. They lost home playoff games last season and this season.
Suffice to say Belichick hasn't had the best of luck since then...except for one thing. He's still employed, and as mentioned above he is the coach of the year. The Patriots have a plethora of picks in the upcoming draft, and there are other reasons to believe the Patriots will have success in the future.
Okay, so that's some of Belichick's story. I'll leave out his failures in Cleveland, although they help drive home this point as well. Let's look at the man widely regarded as Belichick's biggest rival: NBC broadcaster and former Bucs/Colts coach Tony Dungy (by the way, TMQ has an excellent comparison of the two). Dungy is pretty much the moral authority of the league. He mentored Michael Vick. Roger Goodell probably has him on speed dial. Dungy is a devout Christian, as he'll be quick to tell you. His book thoroughly outlines this aspect of his life. Dungy can't go 15 minutes without mentioning it to someone, and he can't go another 15 without saying that said someone should be more like him. The general consensus is that Dungy is an all-around great guy, one that everyone should emulate in some manner. I'm not disagreeing with any of that. I'm no Dungy fan, but there's little doubt in my mind that the world would be better off with more people like him.
Dungy's Colts played the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl four years ago. Bears coach Lovie Smith is a Dungy disciple in more ways than one. Smith was a Dungy assistant in Tampa and is expressive re: his Christian beliefs in much the same way that Dungy is. Both coaches spoke extensively of their beliefs during the time surrounding the game, going out of their way to present themselves as men of sound morals (they let the media focus on the racial aspect).
ESPN personality and former Jets/Chiefs coach Herm Edwards is in much the same mold as Dungy and Smith. Edwards, like Smith, was a Dungy disciple. He does not talk about the spiritual aspect as Smith (and Dungy), but he certainly preaches with a passion when it comes to moral character. I think there's a biochemical reaction that goes on with Edwards when moral issues come up. Listen to any of his commentary on Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick, or Tiger Woods - not that Tiger plays football or anything.
How about a non-Dungy black (former) coach? Let's go with Tyrone Willingham. Willingham gave Stanford football some of its best years until Jim Harbaugh came along. Willingham then went to Notre Dame, which was a big deal because...well, because he's black. Willingham was fired after three seasons because the team didn't win enough. In a vaccum, that's plenty good reason to fire someone. However, there were plenty of other circumstances that made the firing questionable. Oddly enough, the man who replaced Willingham was former Belichick assistant Charlie Weis. Weis's greatest success at ND came with players Willingham recruited. Okay, time to digress: the consensus is that Willingham, like Dungy and his disciples, was of high moral character and principle.
Last one I'll mention is a man who brought me much frustration over the last two years: former Miami coach Randy Shannon. By all accounts, Shannon was of high moral character. Miami's APR is a rather large piece of evidence in his favor. Team on-field discipline excepted, he did a lot to clean up a program that had some stain on it when he became head coach. Shannon produced everywhere except on the field, in much the same fashion as Willingham.
So we have all these black coaches who are great men of high moral character. Some will be quick to tell you (the Dungy crew), some not so much (Willingham and Shannon). I haven't heard much about Steelers coach Mike Tomlin in this aspect, but if you know that franchise you know that bad guys don't get that coaching job. The Rooneys are among the most grounded and principled owners in sports. That's why they got rid of Santonio Holmes and considered jettisoning Roethlisberger. Probably would have if they had someone to replace him the way Mike Wallace replaced Holmes. I'm saying that to further the point that the Steelers would not have hired anyone of questionable character to coach the team...of course, you already know this if you know their history - especially that which involves longtime coach Chuck Noll. How principled and grounded is Noll? He was Dungy's mentor.
Where, though, is the 'Black Bill Belichick'? There are plenty of white coaches who (according to popular opinion) have good character. Noll, Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi, Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden...the list goes on. However, you have coaches like Belichick and McDaniels who "provide balance". John Calipari, Urban Meyer (close friends with Belichick), and Lane Kiffin also sit on the Belichick side of the ledger. Kiffin's case is funny since his father was a Dungy assistant...wait, back to the point. There's almost no melaninious football coach who can run with Belichick and his crew: not even Romeo Crennel, who was a Belichick assistant.
I believe it has to do with something our parents - especially if we're of American descent - told us: "you have to work twice as hard to get half as far". (Ed. note: the reason I singled out Americans is that I'm not sure if black people whose origins lie elsewhere have the same experiences and feelings re: slavery and the Civil Rights movement). High moral character is part of black coaches' having to work twice as hard. Half as far? Look at the coaching situations in big-time football, especially the rates at which coaches of different hues are recycled.
Dungy, Edwards, and Dennis Green are the only black coaches I can think of who have had multiple head coaching jobs in the NFL. Green and Willingham are the only ones in college, as far as BCS schools. Willingham had three jobs, which is a minor miracle. Green, obviously, is an even bigger miracle. Why does no one talk about him? I'll get to that later. At any rate, that lack of repeated opportunity is part of the body of evidence that shows equality to still be a foreign concept in many ways. When black coaches get recycled with the same frequency as their white counterparts, I'll start to get on board with this "everyone is equal" thing (in case the similarity to Belichick is lost, I'm referring to his stint in Cleveland).
As I told everyone who would listen during the presidential election, I couldn't care less (in a comparative sense) about the first (half-) black president being elected. I care about when the second black president is elected. First times make news, second times make habits. Equality needs to be a habit. It's not enough to hire coaches - or presidents - for the first time...and no, an Obama re-election would not count as a second time. Incumbents always win: George H.W. Bush is the only sitting president to lose in a re-election bid (not counting Lyndon Johnson, who dropped out of the primary in 1968) since 1932. I'd be more impressed if he lost re-election and then came back to win again...although a president serving two non-consecutive terms has only happened once in the nation's history. I want to see the next black president. Will this country do it again...ever? Will a Deval Patrick, a Cory Booker, a Jesse Jackson, Jr., or an Andrew Gillum ever have a chance to be president? The novelty effect has worn off now. Second chances need to be available to all at an equal clip. Going bck to football, imagine if Belichick never got the chance with the Patriots.
We have (more) equal chances to do everything the first time, and that's great. It's certainly better than the situations our ancestors had. Society still falls short in giving black people second chances at the same rate as white people, unless we're talking about recidivism...which is another matter entirely. It's not enough to give people the same opportunity to try: people have to be given the same opportunity to come back from failure. Otherwise, these initial opportunities are in many cases destined to become a show or a sham.
That's a problem with the initial opportunities: because they are so limited, they're treated like freak shows. People in Pittsburgh didn't know how to act when Tomlin was hired, and don't even get me started on all the "hoopla" surrounding Sylvester Croom being hired at Mississippi State (although Croom's case is much more understandable). Tomlin and Croom only wanted to do the same thing every other coach wanted to do: win.
Actually, that's not the only Belichick trait I wanted to focus on. You'll find more than a few people, especially if you look in New York or Indianapolis, who would say that Belichick is an orifice. He can be one, keep his job, have fans laud him, and not get buried by the media. Black coaches can't do that. They have to be like Dungy and his disciples. They have to be nice and accommodating and have high moral character. You can't even have a black coach who tells it like it i-s-is without regard for political correctness. Take Dennis Green. He has more wins than John Madden, but the only thing most people will remember is that postgame presser about the Bears. Led a team to a 15-1 record. Took Randy Moss when no one would and helped him become a star. Rejuvenated Randall Cunningham's career. Although Green never won a Super Bowl, he had two assistant coaches who did as head coaches. One is Brian Billick. The other? Dungy.
A man wins 113 games, has 9 consecutive non-losing seasons (8 of them of the winning variety), produces two Super Bowl-winning coaches from his staffs, and he's now in the UFL? Yeah, there's a problem. For comparison sake the other UFL coaches are Jim Fassel, Chris Palmer, and a man named Joe Moglia who has never been a head coach in his life and whose claim to fame is being former CEO of TD (which does not stand for 'touchdown') Ameritrade. Green will probably be the only black man to ever hold multiple BCS college jobs and multiple NFL jobs. He's in the UFL. All we remember him for is a postgame presser, and he's in the UFL.
Green told it like it was once. Look at him. You cannot be an outspoken black coach in BCS college or NFL football. The only reason we know what Marvin Lewis's voice sounds like is because he has to talk about that idiotic wideout of his. Edwards? "You play...to win...the game". I know what some of y'all are saying: Belichick is the exact opposite of outspoken. He is. He can do that, though. He can be however he wants: black coaches can't, unless "however they want" equals "friendly and non-controversial".
Be that as it may, it does all go back to Spygate and the cheating."Oh, he's suffered enough: you said so above"...to that I offer you the stories of two men, only one you may have heard of. Their names are Kelvin Sampson and Todd Bozeman.
Sampson was a successful basketball coach at Oklahoma and parlayed that into a job at traditional power Indiana. To make a long story short, Sampson was forced to resign because he did two things wrong: 1) he recruited a player - Eric Gordon - who had committed to another school, and 2) he made a bunch - okay, hundreds - of illegal phone calls. Now those things are unethical and the phone calls violated NCAA rules. I get that. However, in the case of Indiana we're talking about a school that employed a man who hit players, cussed out the media on multiple occasions, and threw a chair halfway across the court...for 30 years. For its part, the NCAA put a show-cause order on Sampson - which basically means he can't coach at any NCAA institution until November 25, 2013 - without the hiring school having to prove to the NCAA that he's fit to be a college coach. Guess who else got a show-cause penalty?
Todd Bozeman is probably most famous for being Jason Kidd's college coach at Cal. His crime? He paid for a player's parents to watch their son play and lied about it. Punishment? Eight-year show-cause order (Sampson's is five). Bruce Pearl lied to the NCAA about hosting a dinner - which I'm sure cost more than the two game tickets Bozeman bought - and basically got nothing, as the SEC handed down the eight-game punishment that Pearl received. Now, I like Pearl. I like Bob Knight too. Yes, you can say Knight won titles. Pearl didn't. Eight years of show-cause for buying tickets for a player's parents when Pearl got 8 games? Eye roll. In the coup de grace, Bozeman is actually back coaching (his show-cause ended in 2004)...at Morgan State, which is an HBCU.
The NCAA has imposed show-cause orders in three other basketball cases. One involved a head coach at New Mexico State, which we'll ignore because it's New Mexico State. One involved yet another black coach. Clem Haskins made a pretty good name for himself at Minnesota before paying a tutor to write players' papers and then trying to cover it up. Now this is a much more understandable offense than Sampson's or Bozeman's, but still. Haskins got seven years.
So with the exception of New Mexico State, there have been four of these things handed down. Three were to black (Sampson is also part Native American) coaches. What do you have to do to be a white coach and get a show-cause put on you? You have to cover up the fact that one of your players was killed...by a teammate. Yes, Dave Bliss is the only white coach at a major school to ever get a show-cause penalty. It only took him playing a central role in the craziest story Waco has seen since David Koresh to get a show-cause. Oh, and the murder wasn't all. Bliss paid tuition for the murdered player and another teammate and tried to cover that up - along with the murder - by saying that the murdered player sold drugs to pay his tuition. He tried to get players and assistants to go along with the cover-up. He also turned a blind eye to the team's alleged widespread drug use.
The differences in coaching experiences are stark, but no more so than regular life. We have to work twice as hard to get half as far. All that above serves as reason why I want to see a black Bill Belichick. I want to see a black coach who does what he wants when he wants: who can say anything under the sun and not be treated as if he has three heads. Someone who doesn't have to be friends with everybody, someone who can have questionable morals. No, I do not want Steve Harvey to become a football coach...or, if you know about Bethune-Cookman, to come back (former coach Alvin Wyatt bore a striking resemblance to Harvey). I want someone like Bill Cosby...but without the pudding pops and wildly successful sitcom. Someone who is unconcerned and unapologetic when it comes to political correctness. I don't want someone who acts like their first opportunity is their last. What I really don't want is for that idea to be a truism anymore.
Equal first opportunities - excuse me while I insert the side-eye - are only a first step. If we're really to be equal, we need four things: 1) an equal opportunity to try, 2) equal conditions as we're trying, 3) equal penalties for failure, and 4) equal opportunities to try again. We might be nearing the end of the first quarter. There's still a whole lot more of this game to be played, though.
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