There are over 340 D-1 women's basketball programs in the country. If you exclude the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, who are mostly in the SWAC and MEAC conferences, there are just 12 African-American males who are head coaches in D-1. There are 13 minority males who are head coaches, Jose Fernandez at South Florida, being Latino. Here is the list of African-American male head coaches in D-1, for the 2011-12 season.
Michael Cooper-USC
Phil Seymore-Providence
Quentin Hillsman- Syracuse
Jason Flowers-CS Northridge
Oties Epps-Evansville
Greg McCall- CS Bakersfield
Wendell Hudson- Alabama
Edgar Farmer- Wofford
Mike Bozeman-George Washington
Jeff Williams- La Salle
Errol Rogers- Louisiana-Lafayette
Kenny Brooks (AKA-The JERK) -JMU
Two African-American males were hired just this past summer; Oties Epps-Evansville and
Greg McCall- CS Bakersfield.
*****If I have forgotten to list any African-American male coaches, from NON HBCU's, please let me know. I will make the corrections. But, I would bet that figure doesn't get to 25.*********
So, for this topic let's say there are about 325 D-1 women's basketball programs. Of those 325 schools only 12 have an African-American male head coach. That is a staggering figure and something that needs to be changed. Even FBS football has a higher percentage of black head coaches than D-1 women's basketball!! So, let's look at this situation and see what can be done to fix it.
Now, why aren't there more African-American male head coaches in D1 women's basketball?
Before I go on, I want to say this: If you're a part of WBB that thinks there shouldn't be any male coaches, please click the X at the upper right hand corner and STOP following women's basketball NOW. It's people like YOU, who are hurting the advancement of the great game of women's basketball.
Killing two birds with one stone: I firmly believe that athletic directors would rather hire a female African-American instead of a male African-American as head coach, because that fills an athletic department's minority hiring in two categories, race: African-American, and gender: female. That's fine, as long as the African-American female is qualified. But, a school is doing the players and the sport of women's basketball a disservice, when they don't hire the best candidate, regardless of race or gender. Some of the hirings clearly shows schools have not hired the best candidate.
Candidate Pool: But, how big is the candidate pool of African-American male coaches? Who are the leading candidates of African-American male assistant coaches, to become head coaches? Hell, ARE, there any?
The usual way to become a head coach is to be an assistant coach. So how many African-American male assistant coaches are there in D1? I can't find that figure online online. Why? Maybe when I did my Hottest Female Coaches, I should have counted the number of African-American assistant coaches. I go to a lot of women's games and I will look at a school's website, including the coaching staff, and I just don't see a large number of African-American males assistant coaches in women's basketball. Off the top of my head, without doing much research I can name seven African-American male assistant coaches; Brandon Manning at Arizona, Kevin Morrison at Washington, Michael Cooper II at USC, Derek Wynn and Jeff Cammon at Cal St. Long Beach, and Carrick Dehart at UCR. Why aren't African-American males getting into college coaching? There is a large number of African-American males who coach at the club level. Do they apply for college jobs? Would coaches hire them?
Former NBA player, Tariq Abdul–Wahad, wanted to get into coaching women's college basketball. His only experience was coaching his daughter's club team. So, he wasn't expecting to be a first assistant. He was willing to pay his dues; break down film, film exchange etc. He applied for several jobs, but was turned down for every one!! Until this summer when Renee Jimenez hired Tariq Abdul–Wahad, as an assistant at D-2, Cal St. Monterey Bay. Why did Tariq get turned down for jobs, even as a third assistant? Maybe they didn't like his French accent? Are/were coaches threatened by his NBA pedigree? Or, are some coaches discriminating based upon gender?
There are many female head coaches who have NEVER hired a male assistant coach. If somebody like Rene Portland was forced out because of her stupid homophobic discrimination, why are female head coaches, who practice gender discrimination, allowed to continue coaching? This will only stop when a male assistant coach, sues a head coach for gender discrimination.
Role models: A young white female can look up to Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer, Kim Mulkey-Robertson, and Muffet McGraw. All are successful female white head coaches. A young African-American female can look up to C. Vivian Stringer, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Dawn Staley. All are successful female African-American head coaches. A young white male can aspire to become a Geno Auriemma, Gary Blair, Joe McKeown and Kevin McGuff. All are successful male white head coaches.
Who does a young African-American male have to look up? The most accomplished African-American male head coach is that jerk, Kenny Brooks at JMU. He paid his dues, working up from an assistant to becoming the head coach, then taking JMU to multiple NCAA appearances, and becoming the school in Virginia. That's saying a lot, because that meant taking overtaking UVa and Old Dominion, two traditional women's basketball powers. Why wasn't he a candidate for the Virginia head coach job? But, maybe it is a good thing he didn't get the UVa job; he would be more of an insufferable jerk, if he did!! But, damn, if Kenny Brooks is the standard bearer, it's a pretty low standard!
Only somebody with their head buried in the ground, would think there isn't a problem with the lack of African-American male head coaches. What can be done about this problem? Does the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association, even think this is an issue? Will they take the time to look at this issue? If they do, what can the WBCA do about this? What about the Black Coaches Association?
As with anything, I want to see the game of women's basketball advance. Women's basketball doesn't get the respect it deserves and everybody involved in women's basketball needs to work toward getting that respect. There are many qualified coaches, both black and white, and male and female. But the numbers just don't add up for an African-American male coach in women's basketball.
