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Tony Dungy, the recently retired head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, has taken on a new mission: promoting minority hiring in the coaching ranks of college football.
It’s hard to imagine a better champion for a worthy cause that has lacked a high-profile leader. Dungy is personable, soft-spoken and highly respected. Just as important, he is a relentless winner.
(NFL champ: Ex-coach Tony Dungy/The Indianapolis Star)
He is not only the first African American to win the Super Bowl, he is also the only NFL coach to make the playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons. Credentials like these give him the standing to shame major universities into action.
In the NFL, five of 32 teams have black head coaches, among them Mike Tomlin of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. By contrast, of the 66 major programs that dominate college football and control its major bowl games, just one — the University of Miami — has a minority head coach.
Since retiring in January, Dungy has asked the same question asked by many sports fans: If the U.S. can elect an African-American president and have many black men coaching in the NFL, why does college football remain so white?
Even with a well-known figure like Dungy fighting the good fight, the struggle could be long. The cause of minority college coaches is hampered by a number of factors, beyond the obvious one of latent racism.
One is that a college coach has to pass muster with athletic directors, alumni associations and major donors. These groups tend to be overwhelmingly white and gravitate toward people like themselves.
Another factor is that college football has earned such a reputation as a career graveyard for minority coaches that many of the best stick to the NFL and hope a head coaching job comes their way.
Perhaps the example of Dungy, not to mention that other fellow in the White House, will prompt college football to change for the better.
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