Race in the world of football

In my leadership class at UNT, we have speakers come to our class to speak to us every week. Senator Royce West talked to us this week and he released a document on Monday called, "A&M's quick choice raises questions about hiring process." A&M fired their last football coach and has already hired a new one. Mike Sherman is the new football coach at A&M. Senator West is concerned about A&M's hiring process and how quickly they hired a new coach. He questions, "Was an extensive search ever conducted?" Many of the players on A&M's football team are and have been African American. Senator West worries that African Americans might not have been strongly considered for the new coaching position. He wonders why this is when there are so many players that are African American."

According to the Black Coaches Association, of 119 major college football programs, when the 2007 season opened, only six had African American head coaches." Senator West wants there to be the same opportunities for minority coaches as non-minority coaches get. I agree with Senator West on this issue. There are so many African American players out on the football fields, probably more than Whites and non-minorities. African American coaches need to get the same treatment as everyone else in the hiring process of coaches. The Universities need to choose the coach that would be the best for the team. We can speculate that the full hiring process is or is not taking place; but hopefully, the issue of race will not determine who is chosen for the coaching jobs.