Outside opinion

[wip]

Being an interested observer of a local graduate level institution, the present form of affirmative action I am familiar with can cut both ways. Prospective students of color are given some wiggle room regarding GRE’s and transcripts in hopes that students who struggled through rough high school years and were thereby limited to middling undergrad programs might have a chance to finally shine. Naturally, many of these students wash out – same as their more privileged counterparts, but at a slightly higher rate. The school thinks it’s worth the effort if they can find some diamonds in the rough. One recent student fits this to a t\Y; after struggling to catch up on core courses, she sought and got help, and overcame her inferior education with superior effort and ability.
The flip side to this is the schools that lower standards to achieve a certain “success”. The minority students who have truly earned their degrees are too often viewed with suspicion, based on the lowered standards offered to minorities at some institutions. A brilliant black doc I know is forever having to prove that he’s not the product of some affirmative action program, and that’s a shame.
The same principle holds with any hiring, and in this case, firing. The way Embo and his bunch have conducted themselves, and some of the reaction by players makes me wonder what part of his recruiting pitch was. Race be damned, judge us each as individuals, please. Sad truth is, Embree underperformed and his demeanor was not what should be expected from a HC. Never doubted his heart, but the job pays big bucks ‘cause not many can pull it off. Wish him and his staff the best.

This is a great. Thanks for posting.

 

[CUinDC]

If that's "TRUE", it should be relatively easy to establish. Where's your proof?

Not for me to prove, just my perception. As I said, it's an issue that should be discussed. Maybe it's more that black coaches still don't get the number of opportunities to be head coaches that whites do (as a percentage of former players would imply). Either way, my point is that Embree got a shot, earlier than most, and is not the best poster child for either argument.

 

[SBG]

If that's "TRUE", it should be relatively easy to establish. Where's your proof?

Coaching is the ultimate proof of the Peter Principle. Most fired HC's end up as coordinators or position coachs for other programs. Embree's own staff had two white fired HC's and neither of them was offered another HC position, as is usually the case. In the coaching profession, you usually only get one chance to show your mettle as HC, black or white. If T. Willingham is the only 1, out of 41, that's about a 2% chance.

But, you can count on one hand the number of fired white head coachs who got a second chance. So, statistically, based on a greater total number of white HCs, I'd be willing to bet fired white head coachs have a significantly less than 2% chance of being hired as an HC for a different D-1 program.!

True, but you cannot discount that there are definitely places where black, or other minority, prospects will never be interviewed. There's a reason why the NFL has a policy to interview at least one minority candidate. IMO, that's a good policy.

Let's not confuse racism which is insitutionalized with discrimination.