Old-boy network rules in college football: Black football coaches are going, going, almost gone

In the cutthroat world of college football, head coaches make big money and have no illusions about job securitIt's win or walk, black or white. Tyrone Willingham didn't play the race card when he spoke Wednesday about his firing at Notre Dame. He pinned his early exit squarely on his 21-15 win-loss record over the past three years, a disappointment to him and the school after he raised everyone's hopes too high with his 8-0 start. Yet Willingham promised he will have plenty to say at the right moment about the number of black head coaches in college football shrinking to two among the 117 Division I-A schools - a sign that the old-boy network still rules. There's no evidence that race figured into the firing of Willingham, the first black coach of any sport at Notre Dame. But the Irish acted with undue haste in cutting him loose with three years left on his six-year contract. He deserved the chance to see his first recruiting class graduate, to succeed or fail on his own merits. One of Notre Dame's admirable football traditions for decades had been its commitment to coaches through at least the end of their first contract. That tradition is now as dead as the years of Irish glory. In their desire to distinguish themselves once more on the field, Notre Dame's leaders made themselves more common. [more] and  [more] and [more]