VIEW THE MOBILE ALPHA VERSION OF THIS SITE

News Nuggets, 10.22.04
 —  —  —  —  —
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

Previous Day Nuggets...             Next Day Nuggets...

Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Black coaches issue report cards to Division I schools

INDIANAPOLIS — The Black Coaches Association still wants more minority hires in college football. But the group's new report card finds that most Division I schools are increasing their efforts to include minorities in the search process.

Seventeen of 28 Division I-A and I-AA schools received either an A or B in the report released Wednesday. Six schools were given a D or F. The group rated only those schools that had coaching vacancies after the 2003 season.

Only one I-A school actually hired a minority head coach — Sylvester Croom became the Southeastern Conference's first black head football coach when he took the job at Mississippi State.

``When you look at one of 28 we're not happy,'' BCA executive director Floyd Keith said. ``We're not happy with the results, but it is what it is.''

The only I-A school to receive an F was Nevada-Reno, which rehired Chris Ault for his third stint with the school. Ault had been the school's athletic director since 1986 but resigned that post in December.

Nevada-Reno did not turn in the requested survey, which the BCA said would result in an automatic F. School officials did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Southern Utah, the University of San Diego and Texas State, all I-AA schools, also received F grades. The report said those with an F were far below par and needed to re-examine the entire hiring process.

Kent State was the only I-A school to receive a D.

Grades are based on results in categories that included the percentage of minorities involved in the hiring process, the number of minority candidates who received interviews and the schools' contacts with either Keith or the chairman of the NCAA's Minority Opportunity and Interests Committee.

Keith Harrison, director of the Paul Robeson Research Center for Academic and Athletic Prowess, compiled the data for the BCA and said some of the results were better because of factors such as how long the search took.

Six I-A schools — Akron, Arizona, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Texas-El Paso and Mississippi State — received the highest grade. Two Division I-AA schools — Cornell and Holy Cross also received an A. Cornell was the only school with a perfect score.

Even Nebraska, which Keith had criticized for hiring former Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan, got a B. Callahan is white.

``Nebraska probably would have gotten an A if there was a little more diversity on the search committee,'' Keith said. ``But they graded high on everything else. The bottom line is that they got a B.''

But after three years of prodding, Keith and his group are concerned that little progress has been made. Only five of 117 Division I-A head coaches, less than 4 percent, are black. In Division I-AA, the gap is even more pronounced — there are no minority head coaches, other than those working at historically black institutions.

``Right now, candidates of color have a better chance to be a general in the U.S. Army than they have of being named a head football, and that is not right,'' Keith said, citing a statistic showing 8.3 percent of generals are minorities.

To help change the image of college football, Harrison recommended the NCAA mandate schools' participation in the BCA's report card survey and create a penalty-and-reward system similar to one created this year for academic progress.

College football's most prominent black coach, Notre Dame's Tyrone Willingham, thinks the media also needs to be involved.

``My point is you guys have a huge impact on that, because people do read what you write,'' Willingham said before the report was released. ``I may be wrong, but I don't see very many stands from many of you guys, from any of your publications. I get a lot of heads nodding, but, come on, man, you've got to step up to the plate.''

In Keith's mind, the work has only just begun.

He intends to expand the report card to include women's basketball head coaches and athletic directors. For now, Keith is concentrating his efforts on football coaches.

``We have a course to get this right and we'll follow that course,'' Keith said. ``This is not going to go away, and we will continue until see we see changes made across the board.''

Mountaineers QB rumbles over Syracuse

MORGANTOWN, WV — Rasheed Marshall told a teammate at the start of the season he thought he would break Donovan McNabb's Big East rushing record for quarterbacks -- against Syracuse.

Marshall was right on the mark.

He rushed for 87 yards and threw three touchdown passes to lead No. 15 West Virginia over the Orange 27-6 Thursday night.

``Just playing against Syracuse, that being his former school, it makes it that much better,'' Marshall said. ``There is an extra sweetness to it.''

Marshall's 87 rushing yards gave him 1,605 for his career, breaking McNabb's mark of 1,561. In 2002, Marshall set the single-season mark of 666 formerly held by Michael Vick at Virginia Tech.

``Being mentioned in the same sentence as Vick or McNabb, those guys you see on Sundays making plays,'' Marshall said. ``Just to be in the same category and surpassing them is great.''

Chris Henry caught two TD passes against the Orange for the second straight season, and Jason Colson had 113 yards against the league's worst rushing defense. West Virginia amassed 279 yards on the ground.

``They have got some great backs. But Rasheed is the best one,'' Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said.

The Mountaineers (6-1, 2-0) took sole possession of first place in the conference by scoring the first 17 points and stopping four Syracuse drives inside the red zone without points.

Syracuse (3-4, 1-1) now must win three of its final four games to become bowl eligible. Each loss by the Orange has been to a ranked team.

``Every single week is a challenge playing the schedule we have,'' Pasqualoni said.

Walter Reyes, Syracuse's leading rusher, was ill and missed his first game since the start of his freshman season, a streak of 42 contests. Reyes wore a jacket and a towel over his head on the sidelines.

``He was in bed all day with an antibiotic. There was no way he could play because he was sick as a dog,'' Pasqualoni said.

Reyes' replacement, Damien Rhodes, breathed life into the sluggish Orange with a 2-yard TD run midway through the third quarter to cut the deficit to 17-6.

But Syracuse, which managed just 66 yards rushing, turned the ball over twice on downs inside the West Virginia 20 in the fourth quarter.

Henry's 47-yard catch midway through the period set up Marshall's 22-yard scoring pass to Charles Hales, a backup quarterback lined up at receiver.

Syracuse's Collin Barber missed two field goals, had one blocked and hit an upright with an extra-point try.

After Mike Lorello blocked Barber's 46-yard attempt in the first quarter, Henry took a screen pass and went 27 yards into the end zone to put the Mountaineers ahead 10-0.

Just before halftime, Syracuse's Marcus Clayton called for a fair catch but dropped the punt and West Virginia's Brad Palmer recovered at the Orange 20.

Marshall then set the rushing mark on a 24-yard TD run that was called back when Henry was flagged for holding. Marshall was credited with nine yards on the spot foul.

Henry make up for the gaffe on the next play, hauling in a 25-yard TD pass for a 17-0 halftime lead.

The Mountaineers entered the game having scored touchdowns on 18 of 20 possessions inside the opponents' 20, but they did have some problems Thursday.

Three drives ended inside the 10, resulting in two Brad Cooper field goals. Another Cooper attempt was partially blocked.

``I made one or two bad calls down there, play selections that I was kicking myself over,'' West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. ``I didn't do a good job in the red zone today.''

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007