2017-2018 NCAA FBS Head Coaching Changes: The Era of Taking a Knee for Justice
On September 1, 2016, San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick (also joined by 49ers safety Eric Reid) took a knee during the playing of the national anthem to protest the oppression of “black people and people of color,” most notably exemplified by the prolific number of killings of unarmed Blacks by American law enforcement officials. Since that day many others have followed Kaepernick’s courageous example of taking a knee for justice.
The list of Kaepernick followers includes other Black NFL players, WNBA players, NCAA women basketball players, high school and youth league football players, cheerleaders, band and drill teams and numerous other individuals affiliated with various entities. We’ve even seen several prominent white athletes from other sports drop to a knee during the playing of the national anthem, in recognition and support of the reality of what Kaepernick is trying to draw the world’s attention to:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said, via NFL.com. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Fortunately, the administrators and football coaches at NCAA FBS colleges don’t have to deal with this social phenomenon because, for the most part, teams are in the locker room during the national anthem. The NFL used to be the same way until 2009 when the U.S. Federal Government’s Department of Defense stepped in with enough cash money to persuade NFL owners to have their teams standing along the sidelines during the anthem. Why? Look at all the recruiting commercials promoting the U.S. military that play during NFL games. It’s all about promoting “patriotism” to encourage young men
to join up and fight for Uncle Sam.
| Learn the History of the National Anthem They Don’t Teach in School |
| “Star-Spangled Bigotry: The Hidden Racist History of the National Anthem” is a good place to begin learning about the author of America’s national anthem, Francis Scott Key, and what this slave owner experienced and saw that inspired him to write the “Star-Spangled Banner,” in the late summer of 1814. |
Fighting for Uncle Sam is one thing but fighting for human rights is truly a cause to celebrate in my book. I admire those Black sports figures like Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and, now, Colin Kaepernick. Each of these Black warriors challenged the oppression of the global system of white supremacy in their own way suffering through public humiliation and intimidation–to include death threats–and even massive financial loss as a result of daring to contest the white supremacy norms of the day.
The price Kaepernick paid for his nonviolent stance against white supremacy in America is his career. The NFL owners have in all effect blacklisted the 30-year-old Super Bowl XLVII starting QB from being hired by any team, since he became a free agent at the end of the 2016/2017 season.
“If you do not understand White Supremacy (Racism), what it is and how it works, everything else that you understand will only confuse you” — Mr. Neely Fuller Jr. (1971)
Blacks represent over 53% of the total number of student athletes on the football rosters at NCAA FBS programs, according to data from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (TIDES). These young Black men are directly subject to the oppression for which Kaepernick took a knee. Therefore, I give heed to the NCAA FBS college administrators and coaches–what you’ve seen this past year or so will inevitably come your way too in some form or fashion. Because the times we live in will demand it.
Related Links: 2017/2018 NCAA FBS Black Head Coaching Changes
Last updated: March 4, 2018
| 2017-2018 NCAA FBS College Football Head Coach Changes | |||||
| # | School | Conference | Old Coach | Reason | New Coach (Former pos) |
| 1. | Arizona State | PAC 12 | Todd Graham | Fired | Herm Edwards (Former NFL HC) |
| 2. | Arkansas | SEC | Bret Bielema | Fired | Chad Morris (SMU HC) |
| 3. | Florida | SEC | Jim McElwain | Resigned | Dan Mullen (MS ST HC) |
| 4. | Florida State | ACC | Jimbo Fisher | Resigned | Willie Taggart (Oregon HC) |
| 5. | Georgia Southern | Sun Belt | Tyson Summers | Fired | Chad Lunsford |
| 6. | Kent State | MAC | Paul Haynes | Fired | Sean Lewis (Syracuse Co-OC) |
| 7. | Louisiana-Lafayette | Sun Belt | Mark Hudspeth | Fired | Michael Desormeaux |
| 8. | Mississippi State | SEC | Dan Mullen | Resigned | Joe Moorhead (Penn State OC) |
| 9. | Nebraska | Big Ten | Mike Riley | Fired | Scott Frost (UCF HC) |
| 10. | Ole Miss | SEC | Hugh Feeze | Resigned | Matt Luke (Assistant C) |
| 11. | Oregon | PAC 12 | Willie Taggart | Resigned | Mario Cristobal (Oregon OC) |
| 12. | Oregon State | PAC 12 | Gary Andersen | Resigned | Jonathan Smith (Washington OC) |
| 13. | Rice | USA | David Bailiff | Fired | Mike Bloomgren (Stanford OC) |
| 14. | South Alabama | Sun Belt | Joey Jones | Resigned | Steve Campbell (Central Arkansas HC) |
| 15. | Tennessee | SEC | Butch Jones | Fired | Jeremy Pruitt (Alabama DC) |
| 16. | Texas A&M | SEC | Kevin Sumlin | Fired | Jimbo Fisher (Florida State HC) |
| 17. | UCF | American | Scott Frost | Resigned | Josh Heupel (Missouri OC) |
| 18. | UCLA | PAC 12 | Jim Mora | Fired | Chip Kelly (SF 49ers HC) |
| 19 | UTEP | USA | Sean Kugler | Resigned | Dana Dimel (Kansas State OC) |
T.R.
December 19, 2017 @ 9:56 pm
Thank you for a truly remarkable “honest” assessment of Blacks in sports over a 60-year time span. One can see clearly the issues within a so-called Democracy or Christian nation simply don’t exist for Blacks.
As stated in your article we live in a global system of white supremacy. Your quote of Nelly Fuller Jr. is well timed and appropriate if the reader is wishing to really understand the essence of the problems at hand. You see, when were Blacks ever free and equal?
If one reads the 13th Amendment, we see why we have the largest prison industry in the world. If one reads the opinion written by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford Case. Which he writes: “Beings of an inferior order (he is taking about black people), and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” Reading this Taney quote, one can see the attitudes whites have towards blacks has never changed much to this day.
We know the Constitution was written for whites and Black were considered “property.”
The reality is to the racist Blacks are good for no more than being “entertainers.”
Until the day Blacks wake up and stop supporting white racist owned businesses we will never see real change. That’s how MLK got started. Remember the Montgomery bus boycott?
As a Black man who knows true history I know if any race is genetically inferior it’s the so-called white race. Proof: Origins of modern human DNA comes out of Africa as well as the first civilizations. We are talking around 100,000 years ago. However, whites don’t want this truth to become general knowledge.
Black Africans invented agriculture, sciences, medicine, astronomy and built the great Pyramid of Giza. But only the honest learned whites know these truths but they won’t make it general knowledge, because to do so would destroy their whole lie of white supremacy. Instead they suppress and or omit this truth and fill our k-12 brainwashing school books with everything of any significance starts with the white Greeks. LOL! Greeks were still living in caves when Black Africans built the pyramids. And if you dig into ancient Greek works they will tell you from where they got their knowledge. Africa.
I could go on but almost any white person reading this, as always, will be in denial of any truth which comes from a Black man. Just know that many of us know true history like this blog writer who also makes it plain that white supremacy is a cancer to all of mankind and to the planet.
Leron J.
December 19, 2017 @ 8:00 pm
You on the money about white supremacy and link about how Francis Scott Pee made the national anthem was sick. I knew a little before but not about him being a slave owner and what happened to him a few weeks before he wrote it, What they do to my boy Kap is bs.