The real black out

It's a simple philosophy. Hire the best person for the job. Race, gender, religion, etc. None of it matters. It's something I've always tried to do throughout my professional career.

So when The Black Coaches and Administrators released its Minority Hiring Report Card this week I expected it to say major-college football programs need to do a better job of interviewing and hiring minorities. The BCA even stated it would retain an attorney to provide free consultations for job candidates.

The Report also grades the college football programs on their hiring over the past year. One university none too pleased with its grade is West Virginia. Jennifer McIntosh, while speaking with Chuck Finder from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette took offense to the BCA giving WVU a failing grade.

"We do care here at WVU," said McIntosh, director of the Office of Social Justice. "This is very important. This isn't just publicity. This is how we genuinely feel. It's very painful because I work so hard to do what I do. You think I'd still be here if we weren't committed to this stuff? We have [athletic] coaches of diverse backgrounds. We have women in head athletic positions. I take strong objections to an F."

Hey Jen, you hired an old white guy who had a 9-25 record (.265 winning percentage) at 3 a.m. after an emotional Fiesta Bowl victory. No one even really interviewed Bill Stewart. Instead, the WVU administration kept saying that this was an on-the-job interview and they huddled in a hotel room and consummated the deal. The rest of the potential coaches were not too diverse either.

There were about five finalists for the position vacated by Rich Rodriguez, who left for Michigan. The only African-American candidate I can remember is Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, who a lot of fans were excited about. But he never received a legitimate shot at the job.

Other finalists who did receive serious consideration were all white. They were Florida assistant Doc Holliday (who is now on the WVU staff), former Auburn coach Terry Bowden, Central Michigan's Butch Jones and Florida State assistant head coach Rick Trickett, an assistant at WVU under Rodriguez. Clearly, all four of these men are more qualified than Stewart.

West Virginia's grade breakdown looks like this: A in search brevity, B in communicating with the BCA and others about minority prospects, C in candidate pool and F's for search committee without minority representation and for affirmative-action observance.

In Finder's article, Dr. C. Keith Harrison, the author and principal investigator in the report who is the director of the Paul Robeson Research Center for Academic and Athletic Prowess, said: "They got an F. They didn't follow the process. It's not real complicated."

Good point. But WVU officials still don't get it.

"Athletics is committed to providing employment opportunities to minorities and women," said outgoing AD Ed Pastilong in a statement.

Words don't excuse actions. It's time to face it. Stewart was the wrong hire for many reasons. No matter his skin color.