SEATTLE – University of Washington football coach Tyrone Willingham can’t seem to escape stories that only kind of involve his team.
Last week, Willingham was at the center of most stories involving the Huskies matchup with his former team Notre Dame. Now, he once again is part of the larger story as Washington prepares to play at UCLA at 7:15 p.m. Saturday in the Rose Bowl.
When Willingham meets Bruins coach Karl Dorrell that day, it will mark the first time two African-American coaches have faced off in a Pacific-10 Conference football game.
“It is what it is,” Willingham said. “It’s a battle that has been fought for hundreds of years. This is just part of that fight. You can be upset that more progress hasn’t been made, or you can be part of the fight. I am disappointed that we are where we are, but hopefully we reach a point where this is not a big story.”
Things do not seem to be progressing, though. Saturday’s game will mark just the 12th time that two African-American coaches have faced each other, and the first since Willingham led Notre Dame against Michigan State and Bobby Williams on Sept. 21, 2002. In fact, Willingham and his UW offensive coordinator, Bob Simmons, have been involved in seven of the 12 games (Simmons was head coach at Oklahoma State). Only 13 different coaches have been involved in the 12 games, and only Willingham led a Pac-10 team, Stanford, in such a game.
There are only three African-American head coaches among the 118 NCAA Division I-A programs: Willingham, Dorrell and Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom, and that number has declined over the past few years.
But Willingham said he doesn’t believe African-American coaches should be given preference or that programs should be required to interview minority candidates (as in the NFL). He just believes that the best man should get the job.
“It should come down to who can do the best job,” Willingham said. “If that person is African-American, he should get the job. If the person is not African-American, fine, he should get the job. The person who is the best fit should be rewarded. (But) there are some very qualified people who don’t seem to be getting shots, for whatever reason.”
Willingham’s players say that the race of their coach is insignificant, but they recognize that Willingham is in a unique position.
“A coach is a coach,” quarterback Isaiah Stanback said. “But Coach Willingham, being that he’s one of the few (African-American coaches), of course he’s going to be a role model to us. It just shows us that we can do whatever we want if we work hard like he has.”
“He’s a role model, but it’s as much about how he does things the right way as anything else,” safety C.J. Wallace said. “You want to follow him because you know he’ll lead you the right way.”
It’s clear that Willingham has been a leader in the push to get more African-Americans involved in coaching. Dorrell, who spent one season as the offensive coordinator at Washington, said that he doesn’t have a deep relationship with Willingham but still looks at the UW coach as a mentor.
“I’ve always looked upon his career and the things he’s done very favorably,” Dorrell said. “Any young coach, you aspire to do certain things a certain way, and he was always one of those guys that I looked up to. And I still look up to.”
Willingham said he embraces being a role model, but hopes that he is reaching more people than just African-Americans. But he hopes that one day, the questions he and Dorrell have faced this week will not have to be asked.
“The numbers are there and you can’t argue them,” said Willingham, who has been involved in two of the 11 previous games. “I’ve done this before, and you hope that it brings some awareness, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. To me, it is just a game. I do understand the significance, but ultimately, regardless of who I am coaching against, I want to win the game.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
