Jafus (Thinker)
Well-Known Member
FAMU faces ironic challenge in move
By Peter Kerasotis
FLORIDA TODAY
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/columnstoryA12218A.htm
It is 2003, not 1963, and yet there is a public, tax-funded university in Florida that has played football since 1906 that has always had head coaches of one color, athletic directors of one color and whose full-time coaching staff this season is of one color, and 95 percent of its current players are of one color.
That school is Florida A&M University, whose Rattlers football team plays the Florida Gators this Saturday and moves into the brave new world of Division I-A next year.
The spotlight gets brighter for FAMU.
So does the heat lamp of scrutiny.
FAMU proudly bills itself as "a historically black college." But think about that. What if, in this day and age, a public, tax-funded university proudly billed itself as "a historically white college?" Imagine the outcry.
Double standard?
"No, not really," countered FAMU football coach Billy Joe. "The reason why we still have to have historically black colleges and universities is because racism, bigotry, prejudice and discrimination still exist, big time. Most definitely. We have not eradicated that disease yet."
When you look at how the Southeastern Conference has never had a black head football coach or athletic director, or how the University of Alabama recently hired Mike Shula to coach its Crimson Tide football team over a much more qualified alumnus in Sylvester Croom, it's apparent that barriers still exist.
But does it exist for the black athlete?
Joe answers that question when he often bemoans how difficult it is to convince top black athletes to choose FAMU over a major university.
Athletically, which in turn means financially, integration has hurt historically black colleges and universities, and don't think the Grambling States and Jackson States and the FAMUs haven't noticed that, and wouldn't like to reverse the trend.
"Can you imagine what it would be like," Joe said, repeating a rhetorical question he often poses to reporters, "if the black football players at Florida State, Florida and Miami came to Florida A&M, like the old days?"
Yes, we can imagine what that would be like.
It's called segregation.
Do we really want to go back to that? To the old days?
Tough questions. Almost as tough as the question FAMU and other public, tax-funded black colleges and universities should answer, which is the same question that any public, tax-funded organization should answer.
Why aren't they more integrated?
With FAMU football going Division I-A next season, the Rattlers hope they will attract the top black athletes they once did. Athletes like Bob Hayes, Althea Gibson, Andre Dawson, Vince Coleman, Nate Newton and Marquis Grissom. Athletes who, today, would likely opt for a major university and its exposure. FAMU is blazing a trail here, becoming the first historically black college to go Division I-A in football, and Coach Joe says the combination is part of the recruiting pitch.
And not just in football, either.
No restrictions
Right now, volleyball is probably FAMU's most successful sports program. The team has gone to the Division I-A NCAA Tournament the past three seasons and is currently ranked 25th. Two weeks ago, the Rattlers took third-ranked Stanford, a perennial power, to five games before losing.
FAMU volleyball coach Tony Trifonov said his first choice is to recruit "the best African-American students available in the country. Definitely. We recruit the best two African-American players first and then we go after the rest that's available. We try to sell the African-American athlete on our social environment, where we think we have an advantage over other schools."
The question was posed to Trifonov: What if a coach at a public university said that his first choice was to recruit the best white athletes, and then go after the rest that's available? How would that sound?
Trifonov backpedaled.
"Maybe I misspoke," he said.
The ironies are everywhere. The volleyball team is the most diverse of any at FAMU, with two African-Americans, two Hispanic blacks, two Hispanics, one Indian, four white Europeans and two white Americans. Impressive. And successful. The Rattlers were 23-6 last season. Yet, FAMU sports information director Alvin Hollins sadly reports that he gets complaints from some alumni that "there are not enough black heads."
Trifonov also said he's heard such complaints second-hand.
It sort of sounds like the way southern universities had to fight, and still do fight, the same complaints from some bigoted boosters and alumni about not having enough whites on their sports teams.
It all gets to be so upside down, with some quotes and comments sounding vaguely familiar, almost comical in a twisted way. And it makes you wonder if we really are that different.
Hollins, who has been at FAMU since 1979, says the university needs to attract more white athletes, especially in sports that white athletes tend to excel at, like "swimming."
FAMU athletic director Dr. J.R.E. Lee III says he doesn't care about the color of an athlete, or if his team is predominately one color. He just wants results. "I don't put any restrictions on our coaches when I tell them to go out there and win. I don't say, 'You've got to win with five blacks and five whites, and that's the only way you're going to get credit for it.' No, no, no. Let's win. Let's just win. I don't care if they've got monkeys out there. Let's win."
A tough sell
Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon reported Wednesday that NFL great Jim Brown is advising Maurice Clarett to cut his ties with Ohio State and head to Grambling State. And how did Grambling State football coach Doug Williams react to the idea of Clarett coming to the historically black college?
Williams told Wilbon, "If he did come here, he wouldn't play in front of 100,000. But sometimes players, and coaches and recruiters and agents forget that you need to come home."
What does that mean, "to come home"? Is it a call to segregate? Is Doug Williams telling Maurice Clarett to come be with his own kind?
If you read further into the former NFL quarterback's comments, he spelled it out this way for Clarett: "He wouldn't be the first kid to transfer here from a big school who needs to eat some collard greens and be around some people who look like his mama."
And so it goes.
To be fair to coaches like Billy Joe, he would love to have more white athletes on his football team, but it's a tough sell. Throughout his coaching career, he has recruited white players and employed white coaches. He is an honorable man, and he well knows both sides of this complex issue firsthand. Let's not forget that in the early 1960s, Billy Joe was not only the only black player at Villanova University, but also the only Baptist.
For FAMU, trying to recruit white athletes of Division I-AA caliber has been almost as difficult as recruiting black athletes of Division I-A caliber. Joe says a common exchange with a white recruit goes like this:
"Now, you know that we're a traditional black college."
"That doesn't bother me, Coach. Most of my high school teammates are black."
"But when you leave your black teammates, you still go home to your white family. Here, you'll be going home to your black dorm and your black family. Are you prepared for that?"
Joe is up front, he says, because "you don't want to invest time and money in a kid and then have them transfer after a year."
But wouldn't it help his recruiting efforts if Joe had at least one full-time white coach on his staff? Maybe when your entire coaching staff is one color, you should make a conscious effort to integrate. Joe has that opportunity now that Florida A&M football is going Division I-A, and he gets to hire three more assistant coaches.
"Have I thought about hiring a white coach?" he said, repeating a question. "No, I haven't given it any thought. But if there is a white coach out there and he wants to apply, and he's the best-qualified candidate, I would hire him. That's what I'm looking for, the best-qualified candidates, regardless of color."
Imagine that? Simply wanting to hire the best-qualified person for the job, regardless of color? What a concept.
Learn from history
It's going to be a new world for FAMU, and that's going to be a challenge for the Rattlers. But it's a challenge that can, and should, be met.
Of the only three white players on FAMU this season -- that's three out of 63 on scholarship -- one of them is starting quarterback Ben Dougherty. As a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon, Dougherty always dreamed of going to Brigham Young University, which could be described as a historically white college. When that didn't happen, he played one year at Iowa State, went on his mission for two years, then played junior college ball for a season and looked around for an opportunity to play at a bigger school again.
He chose Florida A&M, and couldn't be happier with the experience. The school is among the best academically in the country, black or white, and he loves his teammates. All three of his roommates are black. Sure, he admits to being "nervous" his first day of school, but it went smoothly.
"I've never been the only white student in a class," he said. "But it helped me appreciate what it must be like from the other side. It's been a great experience. Everyone has accepted me. This a great institution academically and athletically. I would recommend to any white kid in high school to seriously consider Florida A&M."
It's probably the best endorsement a self-promoted "historically black college" like FAMU can get. And it needs more endorsements like that. It needs more white athletes, coaches, professors, administrators and students.
We shouldn't be tearing down some walls, while reinforcing others.
It is, after all, 2003, a time when we should be learning from history, instead of trying to perpetuate it.
By Peter Kerasotis
FLORIDA TODAY
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/columnstoryA12218A.htm
It is 2003, not 1963, and yet there is a public, tax-funded university in Florida that has played football since 1906 that has always had head coaches of one color, athletic directors of one color and whose full-time coaching staff this season is of one color, and 95 percent of its current players are of one color.
That school is Florida A&M University, whose Rattlers football team plays the Florida Gators this Saturday and moves into the brave new world of Division I-A next year.
The spotlight gets brighter for FAMU.
So does the heat lamp of scrutiny.
FAMU proudly bills itself as "a historically black college." But think about that. What if, in this day and age, a public, tax-funded university proudly billed itself as "a historically white college?" Imagine the outcry.
Double standard?
"No, not really," countered FAMU football coach Billy Joe. "The reason why we still have to have historically black colleges and universities is because racism, bigotry, prejudice and discrimination still exist, big time. Most definitely. We have not eradicated that disease yet."
When you look at how the Southeastern Conference has never had a black head football coach or athletic director, or how the University of Alabama recently hired Mike Shula to coach its Crimson Tide football team over a much more qualified alumnus in Sylvester Croom, it's apparent that barriers still exist.
But does it exist for the black athlete?
Joe answers that question when he often bemoans how difficult it is to convince top black athletes to choose FAMU over a major university.
Athletically, which in turn means financially, integration has hurt historically black colleges and universities, and don't think the Grambling States and Jackson States and the FAMUs haven't noticed that, and wouldn't like to reverse the trend.
"Can you imagine what it would be like," Joe said, repeating a rhetorical question he often poses to reporters, "if the black football players at Florida State, Florida and Miami came to Florida A&M, like the old days?"
Yes, we can imagine what that would be like.
It's called segregation.
Do we really want to go back to that? To the old days?
Tough questions. Almost as tough as the question FAMU and other public, tax-funded black colleges and universities should answer, which is the same question that any public, tax-funded organization should answer.
Why aren't they more integrated?
With FAMU football going Division I-A next season, the Rattlers hope they will attract the top black athletes they once did. Athletes like Bob Hayes, Althea Gibson, Andre Dawson, Vince Coleman, Nate Newton and Marquis Grissom. Athletes who, today, would likely opt for a major university and its exposure. FAMU is blazing a trail here, becoming the first historically black college to go Division I-A in football, and Coach Joe says the combination is part of the recruiting pitch.
And not just in football, either.
No restrictions
Right now, volleyball is probably FAMU's most successful sports program. The team has gone to the Division I-A NCAA Tournament the past three seasons and is currently ranked 25th. Two weeks ago, the Rattlers took third-ranked Stanford, a perennial power, to five games before losing.
FAMU volleyball coach Tony Trifonov said his first choice is to recruit "the best African-American students available in the country. Definitely. We recruit the best two African-American players first and then we go after the rest that's available. We try to sell the African-American athlete on our social environment, where we think we have an advantage over other schools."
The question was posed to Trifonov: What if a coach at a public university said that his first choice was to recruit the best white athletes, and then go after the rest that's available? How would that sound?
Trifonov backpedaled.
"Maybe I misspoke," he said.
The ironies are everywhere. The volleyball team is the most diverse of any at FAMU, with two African-Americans, two Hispanic blacks, two Hispanics, one Indian, four white Europeans and two white Americans. Impressive. And successful. The Rattlers were 23-6 last season. Yet, FAMU sports information director Alvin Hollins sadly reports that he gets complaints from some alumni that "there are not enough black heads."
Trifonov also said he's heard such complaints second-hand.
It sort of sounds like the way southern universities had to fight, and still do fight, the same complaints from some bigoted boosters and alumni about not having enough whites on their sports teams.
It all gets to be so upside down, with some quotes and comments sounding vaguely familiar, almost comical in a twisted way. And it makes you wonder if we really are that different.
Hollins, who has been at FAMU since 1979, says the university needs to attract more white athletes, especially in sports that white athletes tend to excel at, like "swimming."
FAMU athletic director Dr. J.R.E. Lee III says he doesn't care about the color of an athlete, or if his team is predominately one color. He just wants results. "I don't put any restrictions on our coaches when I tell them to go out there and win. I don't say, 'You've got to win with five blacks and five whites, and that's the only way you're going to get credit for it.' No, no, no. Let's win. Let's just win. I don't care if they've got monkeys out there. Let's win."
A tough sell
Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon reported Wednesday that NFL great Jim Brown is advising Maurice Clarett to cut his ties with Ohio State and head to Grambling State. And how did Grambling State football coach Doug Williams react to the idea of Clarett coming to the historically black college?
Williams told Wilbon, "If he did come here, he wouldn't play in front of 100,000. But sometimes players, and coaches and recruiters and agents forget that you need to come home."
What does that mean, "to come home"? Is it a call to segregate? Is Doug Williams telling Maurice Clarett to come be with his own kind?
If you read further into the former NFL quarterback's comments, he spelled it out this way for Clarett: "He wouldn't be the first kid to transfer here from a big school who needs to eat some collard greens and be around some people who look like his mama."
And so it goes.
To be fair to coaches like Billy Joe, he would love to have more white athletes on his football team, but it's a tough sell. Throughout his coaching career, he has recruited white players and employed white coaches. He is an honorable man, and he well knows both sides of this complex issue firsthand. Let's not forget that in the early 1960s, Billy Joe was not only the only black player at Villanova University, but also the only Baptist.
For FAMU, trying to recruit white athletes of Division I-AA caliber has been almost as difficult as recruiting black athletes of Division I-A caliber. Joe says a common exchange with a white recruit goes like this:
"Now, you know that we're a traditional black college."
"That doesn't bother me, Coach. Most of my high school teammates are black."
"But when you leave your black teammates, you still go home to your white family. Here, you'll be going home to your black dorm and your black family. Are you prepared for that?"
Joe is up front, he says, because "you don't want to invest time and money in a kid and then have them transfer after a year."
But wouldn't it help his recruiting efforts if Joe had at least one full-time white coach on his staff? Maybe when your entire coaching staff is one color, you should make a conscious effort to integrate. Joe has that opportunity now that Florida A&M football is going Division I-A, and he gets to hire three more assistant coaches.
"Have I thought about hiring a white coach?" he said, repeating a question. "No, I haven't given it any thought. But if there is a white coach out there and he wants to apply, and he's the best-qualified candidate, I would hire him. That's what I'm looking for, the best-qualified candidates, regardless of color."
Imagine that? Simply wanting to hire the best-qualified person for the job, regardless of color? What a concept.
Learn from history
It's going to be a new world for FAMU, and that's going to be a challenge for the Rattlers. But it's a challenge that can, and should, be met.
Of the only three white players on FAMU this season -- that's three out of 63 on scholarship -- one of them is starting quarterback Ben Dougherty. As a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon, Dougherty always dreamed of going to Brigham Young University, which could be described as a historically white college. When that didn't happen, he played one year at Iowa State, went on his mission for two years, then played junior college ball for a season and looked around for an opportunity to play at a bigger school again.
He chose Florida A&M, and couldn't be happier with the experience. The school is among the best academically in the country, black or white, and he loves his teammates. All three of his roommates are black. Sure, he admits to being "nervous" his first day of school, but it went smoothly.
"I've never been the only white student in a class," he said. "But it helped me appreciate what it must be like from the other side. It's been a great experience. Everyone has accepted me. This a great institution academically and athletically. I would recommend to any white kid in high school to seriously consider Florida A&M."
It's probably the best endorsement a self-promoted "historically black college" like FAMU can get. And it needs more endorsements like that. It needs more white athletes, coaches, professors, administrators and students.
We shouldn't be tearing down some walls, while reinforcing others.
It is, after all, 2003, a time when we should be learning from history, instead of trying to perpetuate it.
