Saturday, December 04, 2004

COACH HEWITT SPEAKS ABOUT BLACK COACHES

Interesting article about black coaches in college sports. There is certainly a better track record in hoops than football. Coach is probobly right though, it will take winning by a black football coach on a big scale to really break through.

"The copycat mentality is big in sports," Hewitt said. "It's not a matter of having qualified guys out there to take over football programs. The blueprint has not proven to be successful, yet. But once the blueprint works, once you get the one guy in the right program and they win a national championship, then you'll see it start to go up. It's unfortunate that that's what it's going to take."

And on his position at GT:
Hewitt has been rewarded contract extensions at Tech and after last year's Final Four, signed a new $1 million per year deal. He, along with coaches such as Tubby Smith at Kentucky, is one of the few coaches with leverage.


"I was asked a question by someone when I got the job here: 'Do you think you got the job because you're black?' " Hewitt recalled. "I told them, I don't know if I got the job because I'm black, but I'm sure I'm not going to keep it because I'm black. The bottom line is, if you think your race is going to play a part in your keeping a job or getting fired, you're shortsighted. If you win enough and if you have a value to the program or the school, they're going to keep you.


"You know what's more? If you have value to that program, somebody else is going to want you to."