2008 Woodie Awards
Leveling the playing field
The impact of race on the search for Duke's next head football coach
By: Ben Cohen
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: News
Last update: 12/6/07 at 11:31 AM EST
Last update: 12/6/07 at 11:31 AM EST
Almost 20 years after its founding in 1988, the BCA has emerged as the watchdog of college football hiring practices.
The BCA issues a report card every year grading college football coaching searches in terms of a school's effort to include diversity in the process. Each school is evaluated in five categories: communication with the BCA, diversity of the hiring and search committee, range of candidates interviewed, time it takes to hire a coach and adherence to the school's affirmative action policy.
In 2004, when Alleva promoted Roof after a national search, Duke received a 'B' from the BCA, as did five of 14 Division I-A schools evaluated. The University saw its lowest marks in communication and diversity of the search committee, including a 'D' in the latter. The best grades were reserved for the diversity of the candidate pool and the amount of time the search took, in which Duke earned 'A's. This time around, University officials seem to have emphasized improvement in areas in which it struggled.
"There is some diversity on the [six-person] search committee," Alleva said Friday. "Our search committee this time is not nearly as big as it was last time. We had some diversity last time, but we had a big committee, so the percentage was smaller."
BCA executive director Floyd Keith said that to his knowledge, Duke had not yet contacted his organization as of late Wednesday night. Normally, schools contact the BCA within a day of starting a coaching search, he said.
But senior associate athletics director Chris Kennedy said Monday that he intended to call the BCA office later that day to make sure Duke was not overlooking a worthy candidate. When asked in an e-mail last Friday if Duke had contacted the BCA, Alleva wrote: "Yes we have, that is part of our process."
Duke's top brass traveled Monday to the Washington D.C., area to discuss the open position with Navy's Paul Johnson, who is white. But Duke also hosted Grambling State head coach Rod Broadway, who is black, for an on-campus interview Tuesday. One of the stipulations of the candidate-diversity portion of the report card is that coaches of color are interviewed on campus.
The BCA issues a report card every year grading college football coaching searches in terms of a school's effort to include diversity in the process. Each school is evaluated in five categories: communication with the BCA, diversity of the hiring and search committee, range of candidates interviewed, time it takes to hire a coach and adherence to the school's affirmative action policy.
In 2004, when Alleva promoted Roof after a national search, Duke received a 'B' from the BCA, as did five of 14 Division I-A schools evaluated. The University saw its lowest marks in communication and diversity of the search committee, including a 'D' in the latter. The best grades were reserved for the diversity of the candidate pool and the amount of time the search took, in which Duke earned 'A's. This time around, University officials seem to have emphasized improvement in areas in which it struggled.
"There is some diversity on the [six-person] search committee," Alleva said Friday. "Our search committee this time is not nearly as big as it was last time. We had some diversity last time, but we had a big committee, so the percentage was smaller."
BCA executive director Floyd Keith said that to his knowledge, Duke had not yet contacted his organization as of late Wednesday night. Normally, schools contact the BCA within a day of starting a coaching search, he said.
But senior associate athletics director Chris Kennedy said Monday that he intended to call the BCA office later that day to make sure Duke was not overlooking a worthy candidate. When asked in an e-mail last Friday if Duke had contacted the BCA, Alleva wrote: "Yes we have, that is part of our process."
Duke's top brass traveled Monday to the Washington D.C., area to discuss the open position with Navy's Paul Johnson, who is white. But Duke also hosted Grambling State head coach Rod Broadway, who is black, for an on-campus interview Tuesday. One of the stipulations of the candidate-diversity portion of the report card is that coaches of color are interviewed on campus.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 19
spanky
posted 12/06/07 @ 9:14 AM EST
Why is it so important to have a coach of a certain skin color? The idea is to get a good fit for the program and Duke. Let's have an Indian or Hispanic or Jewish or Asian coach. (Continued…)
WHAT!??!
posted 12/06/07 @ 9:55 AM EST
We had BETTER not hire a coach because of his skin color. Hey wait! Let's hire a WOMAN coach! THAT would make everybody happy! Oh yeah, and by everybody, I mean those who don't care about the horrible record that caused Roof to get fired in the first place. (Continued…)
Joe
posted 12/06/07 @ 9:57 AM EST
Part of the lack of black coaches in college athletics is due to the gap in graduation rates between white athletes and black athletes. Without a college degree, you can't be a college coach. (Continued…)
BSME69
posted 12/06/07 @ 10:01 AM EST
How tall is the stack of examples where the editorial staff acts like a trained lemur? Here's another one. If minorities are so very important in hiring head coaches, put your PC money together, buyout Coach K's contract, and give a large raise and promotion to Johnny Dawkins sooner, rather than later. (Continued…)
look for the best
posted 12/06/07 @ 10:05 AM EST
Me thinks the author of this article is accusing all of the DUKE AD's of being racist in choosing the best leaders for Duke athletics. My God man, if Duke chose students based on your published criteria of PC, Duke would not be Duke now would it. (Continued…)
wondering
posted 12/06/07 @ 10:34 AM EST
Has the Duke Chronicle ever had a black Chief Editor?
A.N.
posted 12/06/07 @ 11:13 AM EST
It is disappointing that the Chronicle now has to frame every single issue at Duke as some kind of a racial contest.
Duke alum and Duke parent
posted 12/06/07 @ 11:34 AM EST
Well gee, why doesn't the Chronicle hang an affirmative action cloud over the next coach if he HAPPENS to be black - you know how the saying goes, "he was only hired because he's black" thing? Way to go guys. (Continued…)
hannah
posted 12/06/07 @ 11:35 AM EST
Re: wondering
yes they have.
BAXTER
Alum 53
posted 12/06/07 @ 12:33 PM EST
This "editoral" "sucks" (one of the many verbs I learned while in the military for 20 + years)! Just let the choosers do their job. Simple: Hire the best man available to Coach Duke Football. (Continued…)
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