All Articles Tagged "black coaches"
Do Better, Be Better: Life Advice With S. Tia Brown
This week, our life advice expert S. Tia Brown answers her first series of questions from Madame Noire readers. Here’s her personal advice regarding how to tackle their career challenges.
By S. Tia Brown
Being honest is a challenge — but I am up to it. When it comes to our professional lives many African-Americans have to deal with grim realities, such as being among the first in our family to go from college to a career — which is different than merely holding a job. This will be a forum to speak frankly about possibilities in work and all areas of your life. I’m all about two things: strategy and preparation. It’s a one, two combo that’s killer. Check out this week’s questions and answers on these topics — and share your thoughts.
For Black Coaches in the N.F.L., Still a Steep Road to the Top
When Al Davis hired Art Shell as the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989, Clarence Shelmon was a 37-year-old running backs coach at the University of Southern California. Shell became the first African-American head coach in the modern N.F.L. For Shelmon, now the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, Shell’s hiring opened up possibilities he had dreamed of but never seriously imagined while growing up in Bossier City, La., in the 1950s.
For many aspiring African-American coaches, becoming a head coach in the N.F.L. seemed an insurmountable mountain.
“When you’re young, you think anything is possible, but you also look at what history had unfolded before,” Shelmon said in a phone interview last week. “Back then, there were not a lot of men of color in coordinators’ positions and head coaches, so while you knew it was a possibility, you didn’t see anyone in those positions. In the back of your mind, you’re wondering if you’ll ever have an opportunity.”
NCAA Talks Up Importance of Coaches of Color
(Washington Post) — A new wave of college football head-coaching candidates is going to school this weekend. Seven African-American coaches, including three former NFL players, were participating Friday in The Champion Forum, the top tier of the NCAA’s coaching academy, during a weeklong convention of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. The academy is part of the NCAA’s effort to increase the number of “ethnic minorities” in head coaching positions at the 583 institutions that have football teams. The message being delivered this year is that today’s head coach has to do more than teach blocking and tackling.
