Three African-American coaches in I-A just ain't right

	Miami assistant Randy Shannon coaches the No. 1-ranked defense in the nation. AP
	MAILBAG Submit a question or comment for Roy S. Johnson. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Karl Dorrell and Randy Shannon compete on disparate coasts, but they are as connected as Brad and Angelina. Dorrell is head coach of the UCLA Bruins (9-1), ranked 14th in the nation after Saturday's 45-35 victory at Arizona State. USC looms next. Shannon is defensive coordinator of the No. 3-ranked Miami Hurricanes, who struggled early against unheralded Wake Forest, but romped 47-17 to raise their mark to 8-1.

Dorrell is where Shannon aspires to be someday, and it seems the Miami assistant -- now in his fifth season as the Hurricane's defensive leader -- already has the necessary cred to be a serious head coaching candidate for somebody. But upon reading the report released early last week by the Black Coaches Association regarding the hiring of head coaches of color in major-college college football, it's hard to envision Shannon getting that chance soon. And that is sad.

The report assessed and assigned grades to the process that 30 Division I-A and I-AA schools underwent in filling head football coaching vacancies after last season. The BCA did not take into account the result of the search process, which is why Washington, which hired Tyrone Willingham, an African American, earned a B, while five schools that didn't hire an African American (Indiana, Illinois, Ohio University, UNLV and Western Michigan) received an A.

The institutions were asked to provide information on the diversity of their search committees: Whether they reached out to either the BCA of the NCAA's Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee to obtain names of qualified minority candidates, the names of the candidates of color brought in for interviews, and how long the institution took to make a final selection. "Our hope was to reveal the search process as it is, in order to get searches to be more inclusive and diverse," said the BCA's executive director, Floyd Keith.

The overall results weren't encouraging. In addition to the five schools that got an A, 17 were awarded C or below. Two flunked.

I wish I had been surprised. Clearly, the processes used to hire college football coaches in 21st century America is skewed to reaffirm 19th century America. That may be the primary reason there are more African-American CEO's of major corporations (six) than African American head coaches at non-historically black Division I schools (3). That is not a revelation.

Yet there is another truth: Whether Miami's Shannon or any other aspiring minority coach is ever given the top man's headset will depend largely on Dorrell's continued rise (or fall) in L.A.

It ain't right. But it remains the reality for myriad black and Hispanic assistants in college football that their prospects of landing a head coach position are largely predicated on the success or other black head coaches. When black head coaches are fired -- as three were at the end of last season, including Willingham -- black assistants cringe.

It's a reality that extends back more than half a century in sports. In truth, Jackie Robinson's success as a player -- and how he handled the everyday racism of the time --was more critical to the integration of baseball than the mere fact that he broke the color line. Had Robinson or Larry Doby or any other of the game's earliest pioneers been failed ballers, or had they turned a fist (rather than the other cheek) at the taunts and injustices they confronted, the majors might have remained lily-white for decades.