Minority opinion

Jerry Baldwin, ex-head coach of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and the first black head coach at any Louisiana state university, won a $2 million lawsuit against his former employer on a claim that he was fired for his race. And while the school insists he was removed from his post for a laughable record – he lost 80 percent of his games – sizable evidence points to the contrary.\n According to Baldwin, his predecessor and successor – both white – were given new equipment for the team, as well as more resources at their disposal to market the team to the community. The white coaches each had a television show that aired locally that allowed them to talk about the program; Baldwin did not. The athletic department’s marketing director was fired in the middle of his tenure, leaving Baldwin with basically no way to promote his team and himself. \n After the court ruled against the school, Louisiana-Lafayette defended itself by arguing it doesn’t make sense that the university to hire the first black head coach in the entire state is now being accused of racist activities. It seems that Louisiana-Lafayette doesn’t understand that it had to do more than simply hire a black head coach.\n In college football, especially in the South, hiring a black coach is a huge deal to people, whether they have a positive or negative response to it. So yes, ULL deserves some kudos for being a trailblazer, but to not fund his program the same as the coaches before and after him sure isn’t racially progressive. \n If the university wanted the hire to mean something aside from “the first black head coach in the state,” it would have made sure he had whatever he wanted. No one is asking for ULL to give the minority coaches more than the white coaches, but to give less reeks of bias. After collecting the great PR for his hire, ULL set Baldwin up to fail.\n The good news is that Baldwin’s win in court may have prevented a trend in the NCAA. In Division I-A athletics, 85.3 percent of athletic directors, 94.2 percent of presidents and 100 percent of conference commissioners are white. The situation is improving, but the NCAA doesn’t even have the minority interviewing processes such as the MLB or NFL, so minority coaches still have difficultly getting jobs.\n If Baldwin would have lost his suit, it’s probable that other universities would have taken notice and there could have been more minority coaches getting fired for poor records, even if they hadn’t been given a chance. We hope that this victory in court prevents similarly unfair firings, and we’d like to think the majority of universities are progressive enough to not attempt a stunt like ULL. \n Minority head coaches in any sport don’t necessarily deserve an advantage over white coaches, but in all situations, they deserve the exact same treatment and resources. Schools such as ULL might not think they’re perpetuating racism, and they may hide behind the veneer of bad records, but their actions do not deserve the benefit of the doubt in either the court of law or public opinion.