Miami Ohio University Athletics
Coles: MAC needs to be applauded
2/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2008
OXFORD, Ohio - Behind every great coach there is a passion and a dream. For Miami's men's basketball coach Charlie Coles, there is more.
As a former black athlete and now one of eight black Mid American Conference basketball coaches, Coles has seen racial boundaries progress in collegiate sports.
We pay tribute to Coles this Black History Month, as we take a look through his eyes at the evolution of black coaches in collegiate athletics.
Coles remembers his elementary school principal and sixth grade basketball coach as playing an important role in his desire to become a coach. The young athlete had made up his mind that coaching was what he wanted to do, but he knew having the opportunity to do so was key.
For Coles, the opportunity came after college when the varsity head coach asked for his assistance. This led to Coles attaining the junior varsity head coach position the next year. However, the young coach was not blind to the surrounding doubt and skepticism that surrounded black coaches.
"The only black coaches I knew of early on, 95-percent of them were at black institutions. You would see very few black basketball coaches in school systems," explains Coles, "and I noticed that."
Coles remembered conversations among black coaches discussing where they thought coaches could get hired. At that time colleges started hiring black assistants. Coles explains, "As time went on you began to see black head coaches and you began to see a lot of progress being made and a lot more faith in the black coach."
Coles brought up the difference between the treatment of black athletes today compared to black athletes of his playing era. "Guys I coach now, they would not believe some of the things that went on back then. Time has erased a lot of things," says Coles.
Life as a black coach was not easy for Coles at the beginning. "The black coach lives a different life in terms of exposure to alumni, exposure to just people in general, I really believe that."
Coles' comfort level has increased since his first coaching job in Michigan. Coles was aware of the lack of a black community in his new surroundings. "There's more (of a black community) here (in Oxford) than there was in my previous stop, and it makes me feel better," explains Coles.
The coach believes there are more things to be done in regards to black coaches. He also believes basketball has been the pioneer sport of black head coaches. "Basketball has been pretty good about rewarding black coaches for their efforts," says Coles.
It would be wrong for anybody to say, `Okay, we're there,'" says Coles. The coach does applaud the Mid- American Conference due to the fact that eight of the 12 basketball coaches are black. On the other hand he realizes even this could be looked at the wrong way, saying, "You can hardly ever get a balance where it is just right." Coach Coles stresses the importance of hiring quality coaches, no matter the color of their skin.
By Heather Reed Miami University Athletic Media Relations Student Assistant
