Moore’s hire at Michigan gives advocates hope that Black coaches at bluebloods can become the norm
Tyrone Willingham retired back in 2008, yet he has seen just a few Black men receive the kind of elite opportunity he got when he was hired as Notre Dame’s first Black head football coach more than two decades ago.
He was encouraged when Michigan hired Sherrone Moore to replace Jim Harbaugh.
Black head coaches at the Division I level often have been given jobs at struggling programs with limited resources and thus smaller chance of long-term success. Moore, however, is taking the reins at a blue-blood program that just won a national title.
Willingham, 70, said the topic of Black coaches’ previous lack of access to head coaching jobs at top programs has not just been a Black issue, it has been symbolic of a foundational American issue. In an email interview, he said he was glad to see Black men finally being considered rising stars in line for the best jobs. He sees Moore’s hire as similar to Notre Dame hiring Marcus Freeman — the school’s second Black head football coach — in 2021.
“Let us be about hiring the best, and that attitude will serve our country well in all aspects of our society,” wrote Willingham, who also coached at Stanford and Washington. “I believe Sherrone Moore and Marcus Freeman meet that standard, and if given the correct resources, they will do very well. They are excellent leaders of young men and university communities.”
Moore is well aware of how special his opportunity is.
“It’s an honor,” Moore said. “It’s a privilege. It’s something I don’t take lightly. For all the African American men who have worked, I just want to show them that you can do it.”
Michigan’s hire came as the NFL added three Black head coaches Atlanta’s Raheem Morris, New England’s Jerod Mayo and Las Vegas’ Antonio Pierce — this cycle. There will be at least nine minority head coaches to start the 2024 NFL season, the most ever.
“We’ve been waiting for this type of year for so long now, I began to wonder if it was ever going to come,” said Richard Lapchick, founder of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics In Sport.
Floyd Keith, a former executive director of the Black Coaches Association, said it matters that programs such as Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State have Black coaches. James Franklin has an 88-39 record since taking over at Penn State in 2014. With the backing of programs with rich histories and plentiful resources, Moore, Freeman or Franklin could become the first Black coach to win a national title.
Like Franklin, Moore’s experience is on the offensive side of the ball. The 37-year-old coordinator went 4-0, including wins over Ohio State and Penn
State, while Harbaugh was serving two separate suspensions last season.
Maryland coach Mike Locksley founded the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches in 2020. The organization provides professional training and educational programs to help prepare minority coaches for coaching jobs. Both Moore and Freeman have participated in the programs. Locksley said his organization’s goal is to help coaches like Moore be ready when doors open.
“That to me is where the timing of it is,” Locksley said. “It’s not by accident that he was put in this role.”
Moore got help from Black mentors along the way. He was a graduate assistant at Louisville before Charlie Strong made him his tight ends coach in 2012. Strong left Louisville to became head coach at Texas, becoming one of the rare Black coaches to land a head coaching job at a powerhouse program.
“Charlie is like a big brother and father figure,” Moore said. “He gave me my first chance to be a position coach, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
Moore said he also admired two other Black coaches on the Louisville staff Vance Bedford and Clint Hurtt. Bedford was defensive coordinator at Louisville and Texas. Hurtt was just hired as defensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles after being defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. and don’t come ready to play.”
Indeed, the Huskies (22-2, 12-1 Big East) are trying to make a second visit to the nation’s capital for the second year in a row. Less than a mile from the arena sits the White House, which the national champions typically visit each year. UConn, of course, made that visit last summer, and the Huskies would love to make a return trip this year.
For most of Saturday’s bout, they looked like a team that could become the first repeat national champions since Florida in 2006-07, even if it came against Georgetown, which has won a mere three Big East games over the past three seasons.
Alex Karaban scored 17 points in the first half and finished with 25, just a point shy of his careerhigh set twice, most recently on Jan. 14 in Hartford against ... Georgetown. Karaban also hit some key, late-game 3pointers to led UConn to a 68-62 win over the Hoyas last season in D.C.
“I don’t know why it’s Georgetown,” he said, with a smirk. “But, if I can have a good game against anybody, I’ll take it.”
Freshman Stephon Castle added 17 points for the Huskies, Cam Spencer had 10 points and seven assists and Samson Johnson finished with 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting — all dunks, three of them alley-oops.
“I’ll take that, every day, every single time,” Johnson said, with a smile.
Donovan Clingan had just four points and five rebounds but doled out a career-best six assists. Tristen Newton, his right hand heavily-wrapped, scored just six points on three shots but dished out nine assists.
“He was banged-up,” Hurley reported. “I didn’t want to say anything in the pregame, because you never know. It’s like the NFL, if you say somebody’s got a hand injury, somebody may smack the (bleep) out of his hand. But yeah, he played hurt.”
UConn shot 61.1 percent from the floor, knocked down nine 3pointers and finished with 26 assists on 33 baskets.
Dontrez Styles’ 23 points led Georgetown (8-15, 1-11).
UConn led 53-28 at halftime while shooting 63.3-percent from the
UConn’s Stephon Castle dunks against Georgetown during the first half on Saturday.
floor. Georgetown fumbled and bumbled its way to multiple air-balls, a rare five-second inbounds violation and general sloppy play that had Cooley burning timeouts like matchsticks.
But Georgetown shot 44-percent in the latter half and played the Huskies relatively evenly, getting Hurley’s Irish up.
“He was mad that we weren’t playing to the UConn standard,” Karaban reported. “We built such a big lead in the first half and we kind of started playing even with them in the second half. It wasn’t who we were. We let them stay in the game. We looked soft on the defensive end, we weren’t sharp on the offensive end. He was just mad with how we were playing. He knew we could play much better.”
And so, there came that timeout with just over six minutes to play and the Huskies leading by 25.
“That makes him him,” Karaban said of Hurley. “That’s why he’s the best coach. That’s why he has us No. 1 in the country, why he’s had success everywhere he’s gone. His demeanor, his intensity, his approach towards everything is to continue to get better and better. Don’t rely on what the opponent’s doing, just focus on yourselves and continue to get better every time. No matter how much time is left, no matter how much we’re up, we’ve got to play up to the UConn standard.”
Rim rattlings
Karaban, who sprained his ankle in a
NO. 1 UCONN 89, GEORGETOWN 64
Jan. 31 win over Providence sat out last week’s game against St. John’s with a sprained ankle before returning for Tuesday’s win over Butler, said his ankle is “the best that it’s felt since the injury.”
“It feels great. I think getting that rest and getting the time to stay off it really helped.”
Bruce Spencer, Cam’s dad, hosted 49 people at Saturday’s game. The Spencers live in Davidsonville, Maryland, about 35 minutes from the arena.
For just the second time this season, Castle’s mother, Quannette, didn’t attend the game. Instead, she was at her youngest daughter’s volleyball game in Georgia.