The firing of Coach Carl Franks this past weekend should not have been a shock. Nor should it have been a surprise. In fact, about the only thing it should have been was done two years earlier. One thing the Class of 2004 has over those who graduated last year? We've only had to suffer through three and a half seasons.
Carl, on behalf of us students, let me thank you for allowing us to wake up late on Saturday mornings. Thanks to your addition to Duke Athletics' fine tradition, we were able to tailgate during the games.
Now that Franks' Reign of Error is over, it's time to look toward the future. An opportunity has arisen that could help a lot of causes. I'm actually surprised it hasn't been insisted upon, required, or... wait for it ... wait for it... demanded. In all seriousness, with its upcoming decision, Duke University could make a statement in so many ways by being the only school in the Atlantic Coast Conference to hire a minority head football coach.
Here are the statistics for those of you who don't know. Of 117 head coaches in Division I-A football, a total of four are black. Among the 12 teams that make up the ACC, and the three schools coming into the conference in the next few years, none of them are of that four. There have been just 18 black coaches to head major college football programs. Duke, in fact, has no black head coaches in any sport, and only five assistant coaches.
And it's not just the college scene: there are currently only three black NFL head coaches: Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts, Marvin Lewis of the Cincinnati Bengals and Herman Edwards of my J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets (two in a row and Chad's back). That's 9 percent of all coaches, while 70 percent of NFL players are black.
Duke is supposed to be one of those schools on the forefront of movements. So how about Duke continue the trend started by Notre Dame when they hired Tyrone Willingham two years ago. Hire a black coach.
Apparently, Ted Roof, the guy who is in charge now, is a pretty good coach and is preferred by the players. And he should have been given more of this season to work with. But let's be honest--this team is not the Lakers, waiting for their Phil Jackson and his Zen-induced bowl games. Coaching is important, but it is the athletes out there actually playing. And it was against Coach Roof's defense that Wake scored more in one half than Samantha does in a full season of "Sex and the City."
There needs to be wholesale changes, from top to bottom. Shake things up a bit. Cause a stir (right thurr, right thurr). Bring some publicity to Duke football that doesn't have the phrase "losing streak" anywhere near it. Or, you could lose another lawsuit to a former female player. That'll definitely bring in the recruits.
One candidate? How about wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill? It would take a magician to turn this program around immediately, and while Siegfreid was recently made available, this program is three to four years away at best. So instead of riding the merry-go-round of old white coaches, why not give some new blood a chance? How much worse can this team get? Back-to-back winless seasons? Been there, done that. And at least Hill knows what a bowl looks like, not to mention a conference championship--back to back SEC champs as a player for Florida in '93 and '94, the latter as a team captain. And that thing all Duke football fans can't even dream about? A national championship? He's got one of those--as an assistant coach for Florida in 1996. There is nothing to lose by hiring a minority head coach, and everything to gain.
Where is Mi Gente? Do Hispanics not play (American) football? Affirmative action is so quick to be defended by many of the minority groups on this campus, so I urge them to get behind this movement, as well. I personally disagree with affirmative action, because those universities that do not explicitly give advantages to minorities don't have a much different student body makeup.
No university is blatantly racist, denying students on the basis that they are black. But the statistics in Division I-A football do not lie.
This is what I was referring to in a recent column when I wrote of picking and choosing spots; had groups let the incident a few weeks back blow over, then taking a stance on this selection would seem a lot less like continued complaining, and a lot more like a valid argument.
Okay. Focus. The Duke athletic department has a huge choice coming up. One option, select a blah coach, and the only mention of our football team after November will be Billy Packer referring to what sport basketball recruit/record-setting high school quarterback Greg Paulus is not playing at Duke. But hire a black coach, and suddenly the goal for diversity rings true. And that would be the first positive thing to happen to Duke football in a while.
Tal Hirshberg is a Trinity senior. His column appears every other Thursday.
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