ATLANTA — March is typically when college basketball wraps up its season, but it is also the time when schools fire coaches. As a result, keeping track of departing Black coaches has become an annual MSR ritual.
However, never in our more than four decades in sports journalism have we seen anything like what happened on March 8, “Black Sunday,” the day four Black head coaches were dismissed by their respective schools.
Following is the most recent timeline of axed Black coaches (years of service in parentheses):
Mar. 2 — Coquese Washington (four seasons)
Mar. 6 — Dionnah Jackson-Durrett (four seasons)
Mar. 8 — Earl Grant (five), Dwayne Stephens (four), Damon Stoudamire (three), Stan Heath (five)
Mar. 9 — Doshia Woods (six seasons), Alex Simmons (three seasons)
Mar. 10 — Adrian Autry (three seasons)
Mar. 11 — Octavia Blue (four years), Jeremy Ballard (eight seasons)
Mar. 13 — Kim English (three seasons)
These dozen Black head coaches represent a combined 52 years, more than a half-century, of head coaching experience. Of course, White coaches also get fired each year, and this year is no exception. But as we have often said, Black coaches on average have a much shorter shelf life and receive less benefit of the doubt than their White counterparts.
Black head coaches at HBCUs also get fired. Corey Thompson was dismissed at Winston-Salem State in February while the season was still in progress. He had been there for less than two seasons. Janell Crayton Del Rosario was let go last Saturday after five seasons as Bethune-Cookman’s women’s basketball coach.
We won’t waste time discussing whether the aforementioned Black coaches deserved their fate, but rather let the facts speak for themselves.
Coaching basketball is a fishbowl experience, with fans and media serving as self-appointed know-it-alls when evaluating a coach’s performance. With NIL and the transfer portal, the current win-now-or-go-home mentality is prevalent and has placed all coaches, regardless of race, in a pressure cooker.
But for Black coaches, who too often have waited years for their first head coaching opportunity, the pressure can become doubly intense.
Getting the ultimate ziggy for coaches of color can sometimes be unfairly warranted. And for Black coaches now back on the coaching carousel in hopes of another chance, the ride may be longer than it would be for Whites in a similar unemployment situation.
“I think it’s important to have persons who look like us not only communicate with our players but also understand and help them grow,” said Alabama State Women’s Basketball Coach Johnetta Hayes.
Unlike in Minnesota or at most predominantly White institutions, seeing Black female coaches on the sidelines at a Black college is as normal as breathing.
“It is very important to have that representation for other girls that look like us,” Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Erica Leak said after her Golden Lions lost to Hayes’ Alabama State squad last week in the SWAC semifinals.
“We have so much love and respect for one another. Coach Hayes and I played against each other in college, she was at Rice and I was at Louisiana Tech. You see so many of us representing that are part of this basketball game, teaching young ladies and molding them,” stressed Leak, who is in her first college head coaching job after several years coaching girls’ high school basketball.
“So, I think it is very important that we are on those sidelines,” she added. “We coaches work extra hard so we won’t be in the hot seat. I hate it. It’s unfortunate because there are some great coaches that are being relieved. You have injuries or things that are out of control.”
Finally, Advancing Beyond in Sports (ABIS) last week released its annual Black Head Coach/Assistant Coach Watchlist. Nearly 50 currently employed Black male and female coaches at major and mid-major programs, as well as HBCUs, are listed as potential prospects for head coaching vacancies.
“I’m happy to be part of the SWAC right now, and doing the very best I can to represent the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff … and create a winning culture,” Leak concluded.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.