Race card played yet again

The head of a black coaches group is frustrated by the lack of minority head coaches in college football, and his remedy may be to go to court. Keith Floyd, executive director of Black Coaches and Administrators, said Tuesday his group will consider legal action under civil rights legislation.

After four years of promoting the value of diversity and sifting through statistics, Keith is disappointed by the slow pace of progress. Apparently, of the 33 coaches hired last season by the Division I-A and I-AA schools, only two minority head coaches were hired -- African American Randy Shannon at Miami and Hispanic Mario Cristobal, at Florida International.

Excluding the historically black colleges and universities that play football, the other 220 schools making up Division I had 12 minority head coaches at the start of this season. The report also says only 26 black coaches have been hired at FBS schools, and of the 197 openings since 1996, only 12 have gone to blacks.

"We've brought that up and it will be considered on a case-by-case basis," Keith told The Associated Press before the announcement of this year's BCA hiring report card. "But it has to be the right case."

Not that my Harvard Business degree has taught me anything, but doesn't common sense say that when you are running a multi-million dollar enterprise, you will hire the best person for job, regardless of race, creed or colour? You never heard me playing the race card when I got offered some crackers during my application for a coaching job at Compton High.