Penn State's James Franklin and Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman have already broken through as the first Black head coaches to lead teams to the College Football Playoff. Both are 2-0 in the 12-team tournament and will face each other in the semifinals on Thursday night Fiesta Bowl.
That means one of the two will almost certainly be the first Black coach to play for a CFP championship.
The overwhelming consensus in college football is that it’s time.
Franklin, who coached at Penn State for 11 seasons after three years at Vanderbilt, compared the occasion to the first Super Bowl with Black head coaches, Super Bowl XLI between Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears in 2007 .
“I remember as a coach thinking about how important it was to the profession and how important it was for young coaches coming up in the profession to see these guys in this role,” Franklin said at the event Fiesta Bowl press conference. “I also remember there being a lot of conversations at the time about, 'Will this affect the profession?' Will this affect opportunities for men?'”
It could be, but not to the extent some had hoped. The number of Black head coaches at the FBS level has increased from six in 2007 to 16 now, which is still low considering they are in short supply 50% of FBS players are black.
“I know some people will say, 'Well, that's not a big increase,' but it is an increase,” Franklin said. “At the end of the day, does this provide opportunities for more men to get in front of athletic directors? Does this present opportunities for recruitment firms? I hope so.”
Black head coaches were hired in the NFL at about the same rate as the college ranks. These five currently retain their positions (Jerod Mayo was released by the New England Patriots on the day the regular season ended):
- Raheem Morris: Hired by the Atlanta Falcons
- Antonio Pierce: Promoted by the Las Vegas Raiders
- Todd Bowles: Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- DeMeco Ryans: head coach of the Houston Texans
- Mike Tomlin: Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers
Progress in the Power 4 college conferences has been slower. Only eight of the 68 head coaches are black, three others are non-black minorities:
Big 10 Conference: Four of the 18 head coaches are Black — Franklin, UCLA's DeShaun Foster, Michigan's Sherrone Moore and Maryland's Mike Locksley. (Purdue's Ryan Walters was fired Dec. 1 after going 5-19 in two seasons and will become defensive coordinator at Washington.)
Atlantic Coast Conference: Three of the 18 head coaches are Black — Freeman, Virginia's Tony Elliott and Syracuse's Fran Brown — and Miami's Mario Cristobal is of Cuban descent.
Big 12 Conference: One of 16 head coaches is Black – Deion Sanders of Colorado. Two others are minorities — Brigham Young's Kalani Sitake (Pacific Islander) and Baylor's Dave Aranda (Mexican).
Southeast Conference: None of the 16 head coaches are Black or another minority. Black players make up more than 60% of these 16 teams and A study found that from 2019 to 2021, 90% of four- and five-star SEC recruits were Black.
During the Fiesta Bowl press conference, Freeman noted that while his father is Black, his mother is South Korean, making him the first coach of Asian descent in the CFP. He said he doesn't take it for granted that he is a reflection of others who look like him.
“I'm going to work tirelessly to be the best version of myself, and that's great because even the guys in our program can understand, 'Don't put a cap on what you can be and what you can do,'” he said .
Freeman and Franklin recognize the responsibility they carry and the role models they have become. Their main focus this week is winning the Fiesta Bowl and playing for the CFP title, but when the offseason is over, they say they will support the efforts of fellow Black coaches.
“If you want to impact the young people in this profession, you should probably do things to help them, and those are things that I might focus on after the season,” Freeman said. “I want to be a representation. But that's not enough. If you really want to help some people, you have to make decisions and take actions that really help people.”