What do 9/11, LeBron's NBA debut, Tom Brady's first Super Bowl, Kelly Clarkson's victory in American Idol, the big screen premiere of Finding Nemo, Steve Bartman's foul ball catastrophe, and the election of The Governator all have in common?
They all occurred before a school in the Southeastern Conference hired a black head football coach.
That first happened in December 2003, a whopping 14 years ago, when Mississippi State brought in Sylvester Croom. He would last five seasons, a tenure that still goes down as the longest by a black coach in SEC football history. Current Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason is on his heels with four seasons under his belt, but is considered on the hot seat.
Besides Croom and Mason, here's a team-by-team, in-depth breakdown of the entire history of black head football coaching hires in the SEC:
Joker Phillips, Kentucky, 2010-2012.
James Franklin, Vanderbilt, 2011-2013.
That's it.
This list doesn't include Charlie Strong, who was named interim head coach at Florida for their bowl game in 2004 before not being retained in that role, or Randy Shannon, who was also named interim head coach at Florida for two months of a lost 2017 season before also not being retained. Kevin Sumlin was hired when Texas A&M was still in the Big 12, in case you were wondering.
Including A&M, still only four of the SEC's current 12 member schools have ever appointed a black man as head football coach: Mississippi State, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M. Don't fail to notice the lack of a powerhouse on that list.
In total, 47 men have been hired as an SEC head football coach or promoted on an interim basis since Croom in 2003. Five have been black. Tennessee and Arkansas have each gone through six coaches, all white.
The rest of college football has been almost as bad. Almost.
About half of college football players are black.
They all occurred before a school in the Southeastern Conference hired a black head football coach.
That first happened in December 2003, a whopping 14 years ago, when Mississippi State brought in Sylvester Croom. He would last five seasons, a tenure that still goes down as the longest by a black coach in SEC football history. Current Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason is on his heels with four seasons under his belt, but is considered on the hot seat.
Besides Croom and Mason, here's a team-by-team, in-depth breakdown of the entire history of black head football coaching hires in the SEC:
Joker Phillips, Kentucky, 2010-2012.
James Franklin, Vanderbilt, 2011-2013.
That's it.
This list doesn't include Charlie Strong, who was named interim head coach at Florida for their bowl game in 2004 before not being retained in that role, or Randy Shannon, who was also named interim head coach at Florida for two months of a lost 2017 season before also not being retained. Kevin Sumlin was hired when Texas A&M was still in the Big 12, in case you were wondering.
Including A&M, still only four of the SEC's current 12 member schools have ever appointed a black man as head football coach: Mississippi State, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M. Don't fail to notice the lack of a powerhouse on that list.
The rest of college football has been almost as bad. Almost.
About half of college football players are black.
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