| Spencer Tillman of CBS wrote an excellent article about Strong and this situation.
The defensive coordinator of Florida is Charlie Strong, who already has one national championship under his belt. He is among the brightest defensive minds in the game, respected by his peers and the players -- Tim Tebow is chief among them. I have known Strong for nine years. He is a first-rate recruiter and devoted family man who has high moral values. So far he has drawn a blank for head coaching jobs.
A CBS team member created an index that measures the qualifications of head coaching candidates and, you guessed it, Strong registers off the chart. They don't get any better.
Strong is black and his wife is white. This might not be problem for the enlightened, but it is for some of the folks making decisions about coaching openings. A former dean at an SEC school told me that in no uncertain terms, Strong's marital status would be a difficult sell at any Southern university.
Strong's marriage has nothing to do with measuring up to other candidates; I'm talking about getting a chance to compete.
Charlie Strong has been the Defensive Coordinator or Co-Defensive Coordinator at Florida since 2003. From 1999-2002 he was the Defensive Coordinator at South Carolina. You can read Strong's biography here on his wiki page .
I wrote diary last weekend on how there is now a dearth of African-American head football coaches at major universities in the country after the firing of Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State, Ty Willingham at Washington and Ron Prince at Kansas State.
Here is an excerpt about what I said about why we have such a lack of black head coaches
There is a dearth of top black assistant coaches in college football. Look at Croom, he spent 1987-2003 as an assistant in the NFL. While we have several successful black head coaches in the NFL now we may lose a couple this year because of poor performance. It is very likely that Marvin Lewis , Romeo Crennel and Herm Edwards will all be replaced this season. However certainly Tony Dungy (as long as he wants), Mike Tomlin and Lovie Smith will be back next year. And I'm quite certain that Mike Singletary will be given a full year to prove his worth. All of these coaches spent time as NFL assistants.
So unless we have some new hires in Division 1 NCAA football we very well might see more black head coaches in the NFL (which has 32 teams) than the NCAA which has what over 120 teams. The NFL has much more emphasis on diversity than does the NFL and that is obvious. But we just don't see that many black coordinators in the college ranks. I can see Charlie Strong, the first black coordinator in the SEC, as becoming a head coach next. Strong is currently the assistant head coach at Florida. After Strong I just can't even think of any names.
I've done some research on Strong and also find he has some top notch credentials. I cannot find anything personally negative about the man either. I too am curious as to why Strong hasn't received any top notch offers. I ended up on a Clemson message board where one poster touted Strong's qualifications. If you read the thread you see a few mentions to his wife and find out she is white. While nobody wants to disqualify him, I wonder if it hasn't discouraged Strong from being taken seriously.
Now I'm all for coaches being hired on their merits, but this is somebody that knows how to get a defense to play. This guy should definitely be a head coach. I can say as a college football fanatic that he is one of the most respected coordinators in the country. He's defenses are always prepared to play.
In January we will have a bi-racial President in the White House. Now this is obviously rhetorical, But if Michelle Obama were White would Barack Obama be getting sworn in as the first African American President?
Charlie Strong deserves a chance to be a head football coach. Maybe some Athletic Director will hire him tomorrow before Alabama has to face him. In all seriousness if we think we have really done something by electing a black man to the presidency then Charlie Strong with a white wife can be a head football coach anywhere in America. |
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