Published May 9, 2011 - 2:49pm
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In my opinion, it’s only right that college football coaches make the huge salaries they do – they are the ones producing the teams that make their respective schools a lot of cash. And when coaches make big improvements to the team, I think they deserve to be compensated for their work.
Recently, Dan Legge of Fox Sports wrote a column about Bryan McLendon, a UGA assistant who just received a raise of about $100,000 thanks (mostly) to his handling of Isaiah Crowell’s recruitment. Now, I’m sure there were other things that McLendon did well to get this kind of raise, but don’t kid yourself into thinking that any of those things was bigger than landing the Bulldogs’ future at running back.
The interesting parts of the article – to me anyway – were Legge’s comments about McLendon’s race playing a big role in Crowell’s decision. Here’s the excerpt:
Of the staff at Georgia, McClendon was uniquely qualified to recruit Crowell. McClendon is a young black man coaching at the place he played at. In America race is always a touchy subject, but one can hardly forget that McClendon has a unique perspective about Georgia. He can tell recruits exactly what its going to be like to be a black football player at Georgia… he knows about it… he’s lived it.
At the risk of opening a huge can of worms, that article begs a big question: If Georgia had a middle-aged white guy for a running backs coach instead of Bryan McLendon, would they have signed Crowell?
Even bigger can of worms: Are you okay with the fact that race plays such a big part in the recruitment of these elite athletes? What are your thoughts?
Race does play a role, and it is a major platform in which schools recruit.
Right. And I wonder why this fact hasn’t impacted the amount of minority head coaches in the NCAA. Seems logical to me that schools would want to have every recruiting edge possible – and a minority coach the recruits could bond with would theoretically be an edge.
Race Shouldn’t Matter. If You Got The Talent Then That Should Be Why You Was Recruited. Who Cares If The Coach Is Black Or White. You Shouldn’t Have To Have Blacks Recruiting Blacks And Whites Recruiting Whites. Its 2011 If You Got To Do That Then You Don’t Need To Coach Football…
Right…race shouldn’t matter. BUT it plays a role, no doubt.