Black Coaches

At first glance the controversy over basketball scholarships looks like one of those convoluted confrontations in which everyone is right, everyone is wrong and everyone loses. Yes, basketball scholarships at major colleges are often tickets out of the inner city for African-American youths. Yes, U.S. colleges must scale back all sorts of activities because they are financially strained, so why not basketball too? Yes, a boycott by a lot of basketball coaches would hurt many innocent bystanders.

BaseballAngels: Optioned IF Frank Bolick to Triple-A Vancouver. Activated P Jack McDowell.Blue Jays: Single-A Hagerstown sent IF Mike Strange to short-season Single-A St. Catharines, suspended OF Billy Brown indefinitely and added OF Juan Nieves and IF Jorge Nunez from extended spring training.Brewers: Placed P Paul Wagner (gastroenteritis) on 15-day DL, retroactive to May 18. Transferred C Jesse Levis from 15- to 60-day DL. Purchased contract of P Bobby Chouinard from Triple-A Louisville.

What is white, male and influential enough to hire a college football coach? The athletic director. The coach he hires is usually white, too. According to a study released yesterday, an overwhelming majority of Division I-A athletic directors (85 percent) are white males - and the percentage of head football coaches who are white is higher still (96 percent). Meanwhile black head coaches have lost ground since 1998, when African-Americans held a record eight such positions in Division I-A, said Richard Lapchick, author of the 2005 report and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

THE National Collegiate Athletic Association vote to retain 13 scholarships in men's basketball has taken on symbolic and political importance far in excess of the obvious financial straits of American colleges and universities.The number was reduced from 15 to 13 in 1991 as part of a general effort to reduce costs. All men's sports were similarly reduced.Division I basketball coaches came back last year demanding restoration of a 14th scholarship. Their position was soundly defeated. This year, the Black Coaches Association and its threat of a boycott added more pressure.

Coppin State athletic director Fang Mitchell will introduce Britt King as the college's next women's basketball coach today at an a.m. news conference at the school.King has spent the past five seasons as the senior women's administrator and head women's basketball coach at the University of District of Columbia, compiling a 64-47 record. UDC has eliminated its athletic program because of an $18.2 million budget deficit.King's team finished last season with a 14-11 record, capping off a run of four straight winning seasons including a 20-6 mark in 1994-95.

Someday, the NFL will catch up with the NBA. It hasn't happened yet, even though the ascent of two black coaches to the Super Bowl mirrors what took place nearly 32 years earlier at the NBA Finals. The difference? The meeting of Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith next Sunday is a huge deal today, the talk of the sports world and much of the non-sports world. The meeting of K.C. Jones and Al Attles in May 1975 was hardly noticed, barely commented on and definitely not scrutinized. Not even by the two coaches themselves.

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. -- Don't expect the Atlantic Coast Conference to adopt another get-tougher policy if the NCAA goes through with its plan to implement higher standards for initial eligibility.While some major conferences allow members to admit students -- without financial aid -- who don't qualify for freshman eligibility under the standards known as Proposition 48, the ACC does not. The conference's position, however, would probably change if the NCAA enacts stricter standards it has approved.

Say whatever you want about the NBA and the knuckleheads who populate it (and we will further along in this piece), but you have to admit it is more colorblind than any of the other major sports leagues - professional or amateur - in this country. Take last week as proof. While the NFL was issuing a list of guidelines to its teams in an attempt to raise the number of minority coaches from three (of 32), the Phoenix Suns were firing Frank Johnson as head coach. Johnson, who was replaced by Mike D'Antoni, is the third NBA coach this season to get the boot in six weeks of play.

WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Boston Celtics yesterday responded to the perception that they conduct business under racist terms, as portrayed in an ESPN report last night.A nationwide poll conducted by ESPN found the Celtics are viewed by far as the most prejudiced professional team in the United States. The Red Sox finished second in the poll."I treat people as individuals and I would hope that everyone would do the same," coach Chris Ford said. "Trying to label the Celtics as a racist organization is kind of difficult."

Mount St. Mary's men's basketball coach Jim Phelan will add another achievement to his illustrious portfolio tonight, when he coaches in a collegiate-record 1,276th basketball game. The big stage - New York - will serve as the backdrop when the Mountaineers visit Columbia University's Levien Gymnasium for their fourth game of the season. "I didn't even know about it until somebody told me, but it's a great milestone," said the normally low-key Phelan. "And you don't even have to win. All of a sudden, you realize you're venturing into an uncharted area.