OUInsider - Owen Field

I'm surprised by the number of down votes this post got. I'm disappointed by the tone of the arguments some of which sound "politically correct." To stand up for being racially blind when that favors one's own race is bad form. There are certainly other more interesting arguments to be made against (and for) the proposition on the floor.

Here are the results concerning black (I prefer the single-syllable designation over the seven syllable hyphenation) coaches on major-program staffs:

Alabama - 3 black coaches (Assoc Head Coach/RBs; TEs/Special Teams; Defensive Line)
LSU - 3 or 4 plus 2 advisors: (DefCoord; RBs/Recruiting Coord; DBs; DLine)
USC - no photos of staff are available
Texas - 6 plus three special assistants (Recruiting coordinator/TEs; Co-recruiting coordinator/WRs; DEs; 2 strength & conditioning)
FSU - 4 (Recruiting Coord/QBs; Passing game coord/WRs; DTs; strength & Cond)
Oregon - 2 (LBs/Recruiting; RBs)
Miami - 9 (RB/Florida recruiting coord; WRs; SR Def Asst/DL; LBs/SpecTeams; DBs; Head Strength & cond; 2 asst S&Cond) 1 Jewish GA
Florida - 5 (WR/Recruiting coord; RBs; TEs; DBs; DL)
Clemson - no photos
South Carolina - no photos
Texas A&M - 3 (Head Coach; RBs/Recruiting coord; DL)

There still seem to be black specialties among the coaching positions. I recall OU's first post-Prentice Gautt black starter in about 1961, Nehemiah Flowers, a DE whose name no longer appears on the old roster but who appeared in a clip on Bud's show in color. After him came Eddie McQuarters. But defensive line, wide receivers, running backs and recruiting coordinator are prominent among the positions held by black coaches at the above institutions.

To argue our white recruiters get top athletes can't account for the ones we didn't get - because we don't know. It's also true that the recruiting bonanza we expected under Blake never materialized. In fact one year we put all our QB eggs in the basket of a black recruit who published a monthly recruiting diary in Sooners' Illustrated before attending a school with a white coach. It seemed to me that top white recruits (offensive linemen as I recall) were avoiding OU when we had a black head coach.

All but five of the 13 LBs on next year's roster will be from Texas.
Ibiloye
Nelson
Favors
Shannon
Wort
A. Franklin
Lindley
Kellen Jones
That leaves Jefferson, Jaydan Bird, Londell Taylor, Eric Striker and Daniel Franklin. Of the eight Texas backers, 7 are black. We can't tell what would hae happened otherwise. All the Texans were top 100 somewhere and at least Corey Nelson was top five or so.

It seems to me that more important than position coaches are black academic advisers and counsellors to help the athletes through unfamiliar circumstances for which neither their schools nor their families may have prepared them. Some of these guys may still be the first in their families to attend college. (I may be way out of date here.) Academically savvy black people can be better advisers than one's cousins and former coaches. The biggest racial problem is probably trust. Whatever OU can do to earn the trust of athletes of all races and ethnic groups in the right thing to do.

Bob seems to be considering black candidates. Their scarcity outside the pros may increase the problem. We've got to keep an eye out for race to become a problem. Having no inside knowledge of the team attitudes, I don't know whether it's serious yet.

One thing good to note is that we (on this board) certainly haven't criticized our black coaches out of proportion to their number and we've mourned their every leaving.

As usual I've made no coherent point.

EDIT:
What I forgot was respect. The coaching staff should display a respect for black men. To have a coach of the dignity of Shipp and a coordinator with the authority over such an important part of our game as Norvell certainly shows that. Beyond that we just have to actually respect black coaches enough to recognize them as legitimate candidates for our open positions. The coaches know that their livelihood depends on that now.

absurd post, and pretty much whats wrong with the US in general
I would play BB in Harlem if I were white and I knew I Was getting the best education possible and knew I was going to get great coaching and mentorship as well.
This racist comment means that most LB's are black, Sorry Tom Wort etc just laughable at best. Keepig in mind this is about a LB coach
Race didnt matter for
AD
Tommie Harris
Deric Strait
Or how about Charles Thomspsons III he didnt care only white QB's have been the norm at OU Ok Sam is American Indian but you get my point.
need I go on and on. No i dont because this is an idiotc thought.

Whats next, well lets hire a woman, then make sure she is African American or American Indian. is she blond, better get a redhead yada yada I know Im out of control but so is this thread.
Best man for the job, I dont care if he has antenna sticking out of his head or is married to his male cousin (ewwww) but if he can coach and produce Im donating more $$$$
We need a MNC something bad, these past years although successful we are most known for our lateset embarrasaments USC Blowout Posie State Loss at home to TT meltdown at the wrost D in the conf etc etc

Oh well Boomer Sooner

Whomever downvoted me is a lousy racist.

How does it favor a particular race to stand up for the idea that the best candidate should be hired regardless of race?

remember that street agent for arthur brown said he was picking miami because they had black coaches and venerables was white......now thats a racist

I think we should move shipp to LB coach and hire a DL coach