Reply #71: His problem is he coaches at the Air Force Academy...

[ticapnews]

Legitimate D-I college football prospects are looking forward to the day they will be playing on Sundays for seven-figure contracts and endorsement deals. Going to Colorado Springs, Annapolis and West Point pretty much destroys that goal since you have to serve in the military after your college career is over - not many NFL coaches want a 26-year-old rookie who hasn't played organized ball in four years.

Add to that the no-end-in-sight war being waged in a desert half a world away, and he's not going to get many good athletes - black or white - who are willing to attend his school.

I heard what the coach said and I don't feel it is racist. I've been involved with college athletics in the past and have followed sports for ages. Most coaches will say "We have to recruit more speed." That is code for "We need more black kids." This coach came right out and said it: He wants more black kids on his team. He thinks black kids make better ballplayers and he wants more of them to play for him. If he was racist would he want black kids on his team? He wants to win, and he feels black kids will help him. Is that better than the alternative? Should he NOT want black kids on his team? Or should he just stick to the old standby that he wants to recruit "speed" and let the reporters and the public interpret what he means for themselves?

Downthread someone asked what his players think right now. Having been in a college locker room with one of the best coaches in the country and having been a high school coach myself, you do say things to push your team's buttons. You build them up, you break them down and you build them up again. You say things in the media and in public and say something different in the locker room. My sophomore year in college, our coach told us he was going to play up our freshman class in the media because it was a great story and the press would love it, but he knew the seniors were going to be the key to our success. Earlier this season Ozzie Guillen criticized his players, said absolutely horrible things about them in the media...and last night his team swept its way to the World Series championship. His players are just fine. You don't get to be a D-I athlete without knowing that your coach is going to play head games to motivate you to perform.

I wonder if he had taken a different tack and said, "White kids can't play football. White kids are slow and not dependable athletes." Would there have been this outcry? If someone claims, "White men can't jump" is that racist as well?