Kwame’s Kapsules
Kwame McDonald
Black coaches in the NFL were 3-4 during the final week of the season. Winners were Indianapolis (JIM CALDWELL) 23, Tennessee 20; Pittsburgh (MIKE TOMLIN) 41, Cleveland 9; Tampa Bay (RAHEEM MORRIS) 23, New Orleans 13.
Losers were Chicago (LOVEY SMITH), Cincinnati (MARVIN LEWIS), Minnesota (LESLIE FRAZIER), and Denver (ERIC STUDESVILLE). MIKE SINGLETARY is no longer the head coach at San Francisco; only seven African Americans remain as head coaches of NFL teams.
Fraizier hired as head coach
Leslie Frazier will be the head coach for the Minnesota Vikings according to the Washington Post, which cites the Minneapolis Star Tribune as its source. Although details have not been worked out, it is imminent that the Vikings will hire its second coach of Afrikan descent (DENNIS GREEN was the first).
Frazier, a Mississippi native, was appointed interim head coach when Brad Childress was fired. He pulled together a team that had not lived up to expectations after an outstanding 2009 year.
The Columbus, Mississippi native earned a Super Bowl ring as a defensive back with the 1985 Chicago Bears after a stellar collegiate career at Alcorn State University. While he led the World Champion Bears with six interceptions, a knee injury acquired in the Super Bowl cut his career short.
He coached at the collegiate level as the top man at Trinity College and an assistant at the University of Illinois. His NFL coaching experience includes stints as an assistant (focusing on defense) for the Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings.
He was the top assistant to TONY DUNGY while at the Indianapolis Colts. Dungy, incidentally, has been an advocate for Frazier.
Minnesotans play in football bowl games
BRYCE MCNEAL (Breck) played in the Meineke Car Care Bowl as a wide receiver for Clemson against South Florida. Wisconsin had among its players receivers ISAAC ANDERSON (Blake) and DAVID GILREATH (Armstrong/Minneapolis Washburn). Former Cretin-Derham Hall stars MICHAEL FLOYD (Notre Dame) and SEANTREL HENDERSON (Miami) played on opposite teams in the Sun Bowl.
Big Ten basketball features Minnesotans
GEORGIE JONES (Central) plays for Indiana, while TAYLER HILL (South) is a second-year starter for Ohio State. JORDAN TAYLOR (Benilde-St. Margaret’s) was the outstanding Badger in Wisconsin’s defeat over Minnesota last week.
Kwame McDonald welcomes reader responses to kmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com or by phone at 651-398-5278.
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