Black Head Coaches And College Football

The number of African Americans who will be head coaches of Football Bowl Subdivision programs at the end of this season: 4. Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State; Turner Gill, Buffalo; Randy Shannon, Miami; Kevin Sumlin, University of Houston. Two other black coaches, Ty Willingham at Washington and Ron Prince at Kansas State, will lose their jobs at season's end. "Since 1996, only 12 black candidates have been hired to fill the 199 coaching vacancies (6 percent). Last season, 30 percent of the candidates interviewed for 22 openings were minorities, with only two being hired. Sumlin, who not only was the first black head football coach in UH history but the first to be hired at an FBS program ni the state of Texas, was one of those two."