Follow The Leader

January has been a really good month if you're a Black man coaching major college football.

It has now been a little over a week since Derek Mason was quickly ushered in as the new head coach at Vanderbilt.  The former associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator at Stanford replaced James Franklin, who returned to his native Pennsylvania to become coach at Penn State.  This is where the degrees of separation get interesting.

For the first time in the history of Southeastern Conference football (and for that matter the entire Bowl Subdivision), a Black man HAS FOLLOWED another Black man as head coach of a program.  This is significant considering who the Phoenix, Arizona native was under prior to this appointment.  Mason, a former cornerback in his college playing days at Northern Arizona, worked with current Stanford skipper David Shaw for the past three years.  Yes, THAT David Shaw, who - if my calculations are correct - is one of THREE Black head coaches hired by Stanford, two of them (Tyrone WIllingham and Dennis Green) going on to be the first Black coach at other major FBS institutions, namely Notre Dame and Northwestern.

The pundits are probably wondering "how did this happen?"  A Black man following another Black man as head coach of a major college program is surely something that doesn't happen often, if at all.  But if you dig a little deeper, the hire will crystallize even further.  You see, there's also a Black athletic director at Vanderbilt, that being Vice Chancellor David Williams II, and he wasted no time in making sure that another Black man had the chance to guide the program.  Of course, there will be those that cry foul at this, saying other, more 'well-connected' coaches were more deserving of the position.  However, if I'm thinking like Williams is here, I am probably tired of that act, thereby pulling the quick trigger.

What is interesting to note about Mason's resume is that despite his defensive roots, he has excelled at coaching on both sides of the ball, including wide receiver tenures at Weber State, Utah, New Mexico State and Ohio.  Mason's pro turn as DB coach with the Minnesota Vikings from 2007-09 may also have been a factor in his appointment.  And it sure doesn't hurt that Mason's defensive genius helped put the Cardinal in the last four BCS postseasons, including the previous two Rose Bowls.

Not bad for a guy who brought a black-and-old-gold tie to his interview for the job.  You think the AD noticed?

Two Black, Part Two: The NFL

For the second time this month, two Black football coaches find their way back into the game.  This time, it's the NFL's turn to swing the door open for two of the most respected minds in the game.  Former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith finds way back to the team that made him a household defensive name early in his career, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Meanwhile, Jim Caldwell, three years removed from a short stint with the Indianapolis Colts, now heads up I-69 and I-94 to take over the Detroit Lions.  

Just like Charlie Strong and James Franklin in the college ranks last week, Smith and Caldwell are proven winners.  Both men are a part of just four Black coaches to have ever reached the Super Bowl.  They also were on the losing end of pro football's biggest game as well.  Smith couldn't overcome Peyton Manning's great second half as his former boss - Tony Dungy - won Super Bowl 41, the only meeting in the NFL championship between Black head coaches.  Caldwell, who helped Indy become the first NFL franchise with two Black coaches in the Super Bowl, got surprised by an onside kick at the start of second half of Super Bowl 44 as New Orleans took home their first Lombardi Trophy.  Despite these title game setbacks, both men are more than capable of holding their own on the sidelines.

Smith has been involved in big-time football since coaching linebackers from 1983-86 at his college alma mater, Tulsa.  The Gladewater, TX native has been either a linebackers coach or - in the case of Tennessee and Ohio State - a defensive backs coach during the course of his career.  It was under Dungy's tutelage at Tampa that Smith helped develop the now-popular Tampa 2 defensive system.  It's the same system that led the Bucs to the 2000 NFC Championship game before losing a heartbreaker to eventual titlist St. Louis.  Lovie's run in Chicago included the Super Bowl run plus another visit to the NFC Championship and also featured perennial All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher, who defined Smith's teams the same way current Minnesota defensive coordinator Mike Singletary defined the Mike Ditka era.  

On the other side of the ball, Caldwell has had his hand in the development of quarterbacks and wide receivers since graduating from Iowa in 1977, unusual considering he was a defensive back for the Hawkeyes during his playing days.  The Beloit, WI native has had stops ranging from Northwestern to Tenessee to Penn State.  Unlike Smith, Caldwell was a head coach in college, leading Wake Forest to the Alamo Bowl.  Caldwell was QB coach when the Colts took the Lombardi and was instrumental in helping Peyton Manning reach elite status.

If you haven't noticed, the common denominator in this latest hiring success in the NFL is Tony Dungy.  The recently retired coach and current NBC commentator is quietly making history of his own as a Super Bowl winning coach that spawns other coaches that reach the big game.  It is with Smith's and Caldwell's recent successes that the former Pittsburgh Steeler defensive back - the only Black NFL coach with title wins as a coach AND player - is being mentioned in the same breath as Bill Walsh.

Maybe that's what Martin Luther King was talking about after all.

Two Black, Too 'Strong' for College Football

Strong, Franklin are first Black head football coaches at storied programs

Waves are being made across the world of major college football as two - yes, two - Black coaches are finding themselves in much higher profile positions.

By now, you should already know about the big hire Texas made in securing former Louisville coach Charlie Strong to replace legendary skipper Mack Brown. While the nation is still celebrating (or lamenting) that move, history is brewing up in Pennsylvania as Vanderbilt coach James Franklin is set to take over the coveted Penn State position Bill O'Brien vacated last week when he returned to the NFL. But - as expected - there's always those trying to throw shade when the next brother moves up into coaching's big leagues.

During the Texas process, which started when Mack Brown resigned from the position after the Heisman presentation in December, there were a lot of candidates on the table to get the job, among them recent BCS title game participants Jimbo Fisher of national champion Florida State and Gus Malzahn, the National Coach of the Year from SEC titleholder Auburn. There was relative surprise when Strong's name surged to the front as well as the eventual hire. The 'good-ol-boy' ghosts reared their head when noted Texas booster Red McCombs publicly said he would have rather had Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden in that job, calling Strong "a good position coach". Here's some numbers to shut Mr. McCombs up: between 2010 and 2013, Charlie Strong has 37 wins on his ledger, all at Louisville and NEVER FINISHED LAST IN HIS CONFERENCE (Big East/American). Mack Brown in the same time frame had 29 and finished last in the Big 12 in 2010. Also in that time frame, Charlie Strong has three bowl wins, including an impressive 2012 Sugar Bowl verdict over Florida, the team Strong coached in the 2004 Peach Bowl following Ron Zook's firing. The last major bowl game Texas was in: the 2009 BCS National Championship, the first of Alabama's three titles. I do believe the Longhorns have their man, and maybe the catalyst to revive the UT-A&M rivalry.

Coach Franklin has a more under-the-radar story in his rise to major college football, but his work with the SEC's lone private university is not only turning heads in Music City and the conference, but across the nation. An infamous case this past year involving some top players on the team being dismissed by him let the country know that his tenure was not going to be marred by the indiscretions of a few. He - like Strong - has also gone to a bowl game in every year of his tenure, including a 'home' win in the 2012 Music City and a squeaker in this year's BBVA Compass. 24 wins and two 9-win seasons in a row definitely caught the attention of the folks in Happy Valley, and by the time you read this, Franklin should be trading in old gold anchors for traditional Navy and white.  Oh, almost forgot... Franklin is only 41, so expect him to spend a lot of years in his home state for a while.

Of course, there will be that old line popping up on outlets coast to coast saying they are the first Black blah blah blah. Quite frankly, it's a line that is tiresome, but in the case of these two programs, it does have its warrant. Texas never had a Black coach in any sport until Strong's arrival. Funny, that sounds like Notre Dame's situation in 2004 prior to Tyrone Willingham's hire. Penn State is hiring their first Black football coach after over 50 years with the Paterno family in tow. What does that do for recruiting? For the Nittany Lions, it should boost in-state recruiting.  Franklin's a Pennsylvania native, which made the hire make sense.   Expect a nice spike to happen for Strong and the Longhorns right away because... well, it's Texas.  Not bad for a man getting ready to coach in the stadium named after a man who flat out refused to have Blacks even play for the Longhorns (that would be Darrel Royal).

Besides, Kevin Sumlin vs Charlie Strong sounds like a great reason to get that series going again... right, Red?