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Yes it is.
I know nothing of this new hire for RB other than he is an alum, former player, accomplished HS coach from a fertile recruiting area. I have nothing negative to say about him. However, I have said before, and will say again, we need to prioritize hiring more black coaches. Yes, they also need to be qualified. Currently the staff as constructed, including this new RB coach and Ragland, has exactly 2 black coaches. We can and should do better when it comes to minority hires.
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I like this hire.
I love hiring coaches who were a head coach at some points durning their career. I think they understand the big picture better as well
as how their role as a position coach impacts the head coach. Theyāre usually good leaders and are used to managing a large staff of coaches and players directly. I donāt they theyāre over their heads despite college being much harder than high school. High school HC to college position coach is a perfect transition IMO.
An added bonus that he played 4 years for us.
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Didnāt Chuck hire 3 black coaches last off season? I guess Iām just not sure what you think CM isnāt doing. Are you in on these coaching searches?
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I am trying very hard to keep my response to you civil. No, I am not on the ācoaching searchesā. But one does not have to be to see the breakdown of the staff. Regardless of whom he hired last year, as of right now, right this minute, of the 16 coaches listed on the Miami University Athletics, Football Coaches Page, 2 are black. That doesnāt include Ragland or Simmons, nor did I count Koehler who is still on there. So if you add Ragland and Simmons, it is 2 out of 18. If this was the NFL, I am pretty sure there would be talk of Miami violating in some respects the Rooney Rule. And yes, I know this isnāt the NFL. Again, our staff as of right now has only 2 black coaches out of 18. I am also not saying Chuck isnāt looking for qualified black coaches. I donāt know one way or the other. But my opinion is we need to do more to promote minority hiring of qualified candidates. I am sorry if my opinion offends you.
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Chuck hired 3 black coaches last offseason and 2 of them left this offseason.
Hiring coaches based on their race/ethnicity is a quick way to ensure you arenāt hiring the right guy for the job.
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Not offended at all, just asking what youāre basing your comments off of. For all we know, Chuck offered both jobs to black coaches and they passed. Also there is nothing in his track record to indicate that he doesnāt advocate hiring minority coaches. So when you say he āshould be doing betterā I assume you knew something that he wasnāt doing correctly. I get it, there arenāt that many black coaches on the staff at this very second. But there have been in the past and I can pretty much guarantee there will be more in future. Not sure where the angst is coming from.
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Clearly you either didnāt read or are choosing to ignore the part where I said āqualifiedā coaches.
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I didnāt say he is doing nothing. I said we need to do better. There is a difference. Nor am I accusing Chuck or Miami of some racial animus. I am not. Iām also not backing down from this opinionā¦
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By the way, former Miami assistant coach Cedric Cormier was just hired by Ball State as their new WR coach.
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Certainly entitled to your opinion. Just trying to understand what itās based off of. Because we donāt know the details of the coaching searches, and nothing in his history supports your opinion. But I can see weāre just going in circles, so Iāll leave it there.
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He did tell you why he was bringing it up. 2 out of 20 staff members are black. I am not going to count players, but certainly this is way out of balance with the ratio of players.
I would also say most coaching hires, not just Chuckās, are based on a previous connection where someone has impressed a coach and he wants him here. Or if not, it might be a recommendation from a friend of Chuckās who is trying to get someone a place in college football. I honestly do not believe the hirings usually come from a national search for the best available candidate.
And I have been an AD in high school and that is the way it was done there as well. That is the real reason it has been so difficult for black men to get the coaching positions both in the pros and in college and in high school. Assuming that black men have the same equal opportunity and they always hire the best available is totally naive. Having said that, colleges are the best chance of equal opportunity. Most colleges have the goal of trying to break the old boy network and push diversity.
Do I think Chuck is deliberately hiring whites over blacks. No! He certainly does not deliberately choose white players over blacks. None the less, if this thread is brought to his attention, he might want to think about and review how those hirings are done and what he might do differently.
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All of your points on how coaching hires come about is right on point.
However, if anyone thinks that Chuck or any other college coach is not acutely aware of this issue is naive. The problem is finding a coach with the necessary experience to fill the role. I would be surprised if every hire does not have to be vetted with the AD or a university diversity officer taking diversity into account.
I donāt have the numbers but a big problem seems to be that you see relatively few blacks in grad assistant roles on college staffs. This is the entry level building block role for a future college coach. Perhaps blacks are being discriminated against in gaining these roles. However, the answer seems to be that they are not pursuing these opportunities with the same vigor as whites. Why?
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Chuck seems like a particularly egregious offender of this principle. Huge preference for internal hires and Grand Valley guys, at times to the expense of the program.
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Does anyone know what Jordan Diamondās status is? He was a grad assistant, but he isnāt currently listed on the coaches page. I donāt see that he got hired anywhere and heās been retweeting Miami football stuff as recently as a couple days ago.
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It occurred to me later that Chuck even follows this method in the recruiting portal. A significant percentage of the guys we have signed over the last couple of years are players that we recruited coming out of high school who signed with power conference schools, so once again there was a previous relationship and a respect for their ability which led him to sign those guys. In that situation it makes great sense to me.
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Perhaps Miami could help to correct this disparity in black grad assistants. Maybe black athletes arenāt pursuing the opportunities as you suggest or maybe the opportunities arenāt being presented to them. I am talking globally, not at Miami specifically, when it comes to the discussion of black grad assistants. And no, I have no inside knowledge on Miamiās practices in this regard either.
Just looking at Chuckās recent hires:
Lamar Conard
Spencer Nowinsky
Doug Shearer
EJ Whitlow
James Patton
Jacob Bronowski
Robert Blanton
Joe Bowen
Myles White
Ron Burton
Gus Ragland
Jason Simmons
I think Whitlow is the only guy here with GVSU connections. Some are guys he obviously had prior relationships with. Some are guys he probably didnāt. I donāt know about egregious though.
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Almost half of those coaches are minority coaches too, but I digressā¦
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