As the story goes, Charlie Strong – then a Florida assistant football coach – was interviewing for a head-coaching position in a BCS conference when that school’s athletic director asked him whom he intended to hire as offensive coordinator if he was chosen.
When Strong reportedly said he planned to bring along a pass-happy coach from a lower-division school, the AD supposedly replied, “Then you haven’t done your homework, because I’ve made it clear I want a coach who’s going to run the football.”
To which Strong is said to have fired back, “With all due respect, perhaps you haven’t done your homework. He runs the football more than 50 percent of the time.”
Nearly a decade later, that school hasn’t sniffed a BCS bowl in more than 50 years and is on its third head coach since that interview.
As for Strong, he just pounded SEC beast Florida in the Sugar Bowl in guiding the Cardinals to an 11-win season. Given that he’s also the fourth black head coach from a BCS league this holiday season to win a bowl, perhaps a lot of athletic directors should be doing more homework regarding black coaching candidates.