{"id":4078,"date":"2008-12-17T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-17T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/12\/race-shouldnt-be-a-factor-in-hiring-of-nmsu-coach\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T16:34:57","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T22:34:57","slug":"race-shouldnt-be-a-factor-in-hiring-of-nmsu-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/12\/race-shouldnt-be-a-factor-in-hiring-of-nmsu-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Race shouldn’t be a factor in hiring of NMSU coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: No, this isn\u2019t turning into a politics and sports Web site, but Foley and <\/span>Michael Swickard<\/a> sure like to write about sports lately.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

By Dan Foley<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was surfing the internet on Sunday and wandered onto a web site called NMPreps.com<\/a>. If you haven\u2019t checked it out and you\u2019re interested in New Mexico sports, from high school to college, then this is your site.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The owner is a young man named Kyle Henderson who seems to spend all his time trying to get New Mexico athletes the coverage they need and deserve in order to play at the next level. What really grabbed my attention was the story on the front page<\/a> about the New Mexico State football coaching search and the possibility that the Alabama offensive coordinator was interested in the job. Yeah, the Alabama offensive coordinator! I was shocked to see it as well.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Normally people expect me to write about New Mexico politics, but I feel compelled to discuss the hiring of the new coach at NMSU. You may be wondering why you should care about this subject. Well, the word on the street in Las Cruces is that the athletic director at NMSU is not really interested in the young man from Alabama. And it isn\u2019t because he isn\u2019t qualified, or because he wants too much money.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Apparently, so the story goes, it\u2019s because he\u2019s white. Unfortunately, for this good young coach, according to folks in Las Cruces, the NMSU AD wants to hire a black coach. Period.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I strongly believe that it is obviously not only wrong, but immoral, not to hire a coach because he is black. At the same time, I believe that it is unacceptable not to hire a coach because he happens to be white.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

For those of you who might not know, the athletic director at NMSU is black. I guess some might say that that adds pressure on him to hire a black coach. I don\u2019t actually hear that, but some might believe it. Actually, I don\u2019t think that notion makes any sense. In any case, in my view, the athletic director of any school should be concentrating on hiring the very best coaches he or she can find. Period. Color should have nothing to do with any coach selection, in any sport.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If an AD passes over an extremely qualified individual because of race, how fair is that to the coach who eventually gets hired because of race? It isn\u2019t. It places a lot of additional pressures on the new coach — in a profession that is already overburdened with pressure.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Supremely qualified<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I am not sure who else has applied for the job at NMSU, but I went online to the Alabama football Web site<\/a> and looked at Jim McElwains\u2019 r\u00e9sum\u00e9. Let me tell you, this guy could easily be chosen for the job at Auburn or Washington. The fact that he\u2019s even interested in the NMSU job should get every New Mexico football fan excited. Having been the offensive coordinator at Fresno State last year, and now calling the plays at Alabama, has to put him head and shoulders above any other applicant.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The fact that he is rated the number 18 offensive coach by Rivals.com<\/a> should give him a clear path to the job at NMSU. At the very least he should be an almost immediate finalist, with very serious consideration given. But that\u2019s not what we\u2019re hearing. And, in fact, that\u2019s not the way things work if race is still being used as a criterion for coaching selections. It shouldn\u2019t be that way 44 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but it apparently is in some people\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Coach McElwain, having grown up in Washington and coached in the WAC, has other huge advantages over scores of coaches who have spent all their time at schools on the East Coast. The fact that he has recruited kids to every level of school from Eastern Washington to Michigan State, from Louisville to Fresno State, and now to the University of Alabama, has to put him at the front of the pack. He not only knows the Western states\u2019 recruiting grounds, he\u2019s had the added benefit of recruiting for Alabama — a school that recruits, with real credibility, all over the nation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Looking at his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and seeing what he did at all those schools says he is ready to lead his own program. New Mexico State, and its athletic director, should not miss this opportunity. And it certainly shouldn\u2019t miss this chance because of a race-based approach to hiring. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Hire the right person, regardless of race<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The \u201ccolor\u201d of a person you hire is irrelevant. Anyone who tries to tell you it should be a factor used in considering a person is not only wrong, but is also, sadly — consciously or unconsciously — a racist. There\u2019s no place for that in the 21st Century. (Of course there\u2019s never been a place for it, but we can say there certainly is no place for it in modern, enlightened society.) <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hire the right person for the job regardless of his or her color — or of the color of the people making the choice. Racism is what has kept many black coaches from getting a chance. It was wrong to be used in that way. It is wrong to use it as retribution as well.<\/p>\n

Wrong then. Wrong now. New Mexico State University, the players, students, fans and all the citizens of this state deserve better than that.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

After meeting the new coach at the University of New Mexico, I can say I think he is the right man for the job, and the best qualified coach for the job. That has nothing to do with his color. It has to do with his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and his record. Let\u2019s not cheapen that hire, done correctly, by playing with the subject of race in Las Cruces. Let\u2019s hire the right guy in Las Cruces just like they did in Albuquerque and maybe, just maybe, New Mexico football will get the respect we all want it to have.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Foley<\/a>, a Republican, is the outgoing minority whip in the New Mexico House of Representatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: No, this isn\u2019t turning into a politics and sports Web site, but Foley and Michael Swickard sure like to write about sports lately. By Dan Foley I was surfing the internet on Sunday and wandered onto a web site called NMPreps.com. If you haven\u2019t checked it out and you\u2019re interested in New Mexico sports, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}