Sports: April 5, 2000
Wanted: Racial equity
Princeton works toward diversity in the athletics department
In 1985, Georgetown's John Thompson became the first African-American head coach to win the NCAA's Division I men's basketball championship. At the time, Thompson said that he was not simply the first African American to win the championship, but the first to be given a realistic opportunity to accomplish such a feat.
Fifteen years later, and only one month ago, Thompson's son, John III '88, was one of only two full-time African-American coaches, both assistants, at Princeton. What makes this shockingly low number all the more disturbing is the fact that Princeton competes in 38 varsity sports, among the most in the nation.
Athletics administrators and conference commissioners regularly discuss the need to increase minority representation in the coaching ranks. However, few have backed their words with tangible actions. Despite the prevalence of minority student-athletes on college campuses (4,057 of 14,636 student-athletes receiving athletics grants in the entering class of 1992-93 at NCAA member institutions were minorities), only 12.9% of men's and 4.1% of women's varsity head coaches were minorities in 1997-98. Though clearly not alone, Princeton-whose 4,556 undergraduates include 1,205 U.S. minorities (black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian)-and many of its Ivy League rivals have long resided near the bottom of the curve in terms of addressing this issue.
"You look at Princeton, and the university has 38 sports, which I think is third most in the country, and then you look at the fact that there are two full-time black coaches. Without a doubt, I'd like to see that number increase," says John Thompson III. "I know that the pool of applicants for various [coaching] jobs, and without getting sport specific, is such that there are qualified blacks and [other] minorities out there that are capable of running a team as a head coach or being an assistant coach."
Finding those candidates can be a problem, according to athletics director Gary Walters '67. Though Princeton advertises coaching vacancies in the NCAA News, posts positions online with the Black Coaches Association, and consults with the commissioners of historically black athletics conferences during the search process, minority response has often been sparse. "My job as the director of athletics is to ensure that we conduct as open, extensive, and exhaustive a search as possible, in order to attract the broadest, deepest, and most diverse talent pool available," said Walters. "Clearly it's going to be difficult to identify minority coaching candidates in sports that are played, for the most part, in upper-income socioeconomic circumstances. But I'm not so sure that in the sports of basketball, football, and track, that there is [so much] a shortage of candidates as there is an economic deterrent to coaching at the Ivy League level, combined with an economic incentive to coaching at the major college and professional levels. . . . The pay scale for major college assistant coaches is significantly better than it is for assistant coaches in the Ivy League."
In addition, most student-athletes do not attend Princeton and other Ivy League schools with an eye toward a career in coaching. This makes the task of finding candidates, regardless of race, with Ivy League familiarity inherently more difficult. Jeffrey Orleans, director of the Ivy League says, "Our schools do a great job of sending kids of all backgrounds to Wall Street, but we are much less organized in sending kids into teaching, and I think teaching parallels coaching."
According to Walters, "Based on the 1998 survey that was taken of the number of African-American coaches that we have in the league, we compare favorably, but that's only on a relative basis. I think, on an absolute basis, we can do better, and we should."
Thompson agrees, saying, "The athletics department must improve on the methods which they use to make jobs known to minority coaches. And minority coaches themselves, and organizations like the BCA (Black Coaches Association) need to heighten Princeton's awareness of minority candidates."
Orleans suggests taking advantage of the staggering potential of the Internet by developing an NCAA database of coaching candidates to which all member institutions would have access. "The Web gives us the opportunity to really compile a national database . . . where you could send the names of recent graduates who might be good assistant coaches. Anyone in the NCAA could get a list of candidates from the database that would increase the talent pool," says Orleans.
Having long failed to integrate its coaching staff more significantly, Princeton recently made important strides in addressing this sensitive issue. The number of full-time minority coaches has tripled in the one month since this article began to take shape. Besides Thompson and assistant women's basketball coach Daphne Robinson, the university hired Eric Jackson and Stanley Clayton as football coaches, Matt Fleming as strength and conditioning coach, and Glenn Michabata as men's tennis coach. Princeton also employs several minority coaches on a part-time or stipend basis. The new hires all have impressive backgrounds, most notably Michabata, who was formerly a member of the world's number-one-ranked doubles tennis team, and Clayton, who played six years in the National Football League for the Falcons, Patriots, and Steelers, and coached at Penn State, Massachusetts, Alabama State, and as an intern for the NFL's Chicago Bears.
These additions are a step in the right direction-a move toward building a more diverse and representative population among Princeton's coaches and athletics administrators.
-Matthew Golden '94
Men's lacrosse up and down early
Youth causes inconsistency
Youth brings both promise and peril, as the Princeton men's lacrosse team learned in early March. Their raw talent was on full display March 4 in Baltimore, where the Tigers ripped Johns Hopkins 15-11 in the season opener. But a week later, inexperience was apparent in a 15-8 loss at the University of Virginia.
"The month of March is one of search and define and redefine and search again," said head coach Bill Tierney. "You hope that the kids understand that winning doesn't mean you did everything great and losing doesn't mean you did everything wrong."
One of the team's few veterans is Josh Sims '00, a two-time first-team All-America midfielder and the Tigers' best offensive player. Sims notched six goals and three assists in the team's first two games, and his exceptional passing ability should help combat the attention he attracts from opposing defenses. Sims's contributions will be critical as the Tiger attack struggles for consistency. Matt Striebel '01 had four goals and an assist against Hopkins, but was held to just an assist against Virginia. B. J. Prager '02, last year's Ivy League rookie of the year, has started slowly, with three goals and an assist in the first two games.
Princeton never found a reliable third attackman last year, but several look to fill that role in 2000. Sean Hartofilis '03 scored a goal against Hopkins, Josh White '03 two goals, and Brendan Tierney '02, the coach's younger son, another goal, giving Princeton four goals from the third attack spot. "It's a rotation based on who's got the hot hand, but more on style of play," Tierney said, citing Hartofilis's speed, White's strength, and young Tierney's passing and off-ball play.
Guarding the net is the coach's older son, Trevor Tierney '01, who has played well early, with 22 saves against Hopkins and 16 against Virginia. Tierney is supported by an inexperienced defense. In 1999, the Tigers graduated starters John Harrington, Jason Farrell, and Kurt Lunkenheimer, who is now coaching his successors: Scott Farrell '02, who started six games last year when Lunkenheimer was hurt, Ryan Mollett '01, and Damien Davis '03.
The defense played well in the opener but couldn't handle Virginia's offense. "We fooled ourselves a little bit at Hopkins," Tierney said. "The more we watched those films, we saw how vulnerable we were in certain spots, especially defensively."
Princeton ran 13 middies against the Blue Jays, though that won't continue. "That number will dwindle in big moments," Tierney said. "As the year goes on, you start to see who's more consistent." Besides Sims, those who proved their consistency last year include Chris Berrier '00, Rob Torti '01, Matt Bailer '01, and Kyle Baugher '02. At Hopkins, Tierney started Owen Daly '03, the top player at the under-19 World Games last year.
Princeton has not lost an Ivy League game since 1995, and they are the class of the league again this year. Should the Tigers capture their sixth straight Ivy crown, they will get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. By that time, they may have matured enough to fulfill their promise.
- David Marcus '92
Men's teams Basketball |
Women's teams Tennis (6-1 overall, 0-0 Ivy) UC-Irvine 7, Princeton 2 April 7 at Yale April 8 at Brown April 12 Rutgers April 14 Harvard April 15 Cornell Golf April 8-9 at Boston College April 14-16 Ivy Championships at Bethpage, NY Water Polo (9-2 overall, 4-0 CWPA) UC-Davis 9, Princeton 4 UC-Berkeley 13, Princeton 6 April 15-16 at Villanova Lacrosse (2-1 overall, 0-0 Ivy) Loyola 6, Princeton 5 Princeton 11, Duke 10 April 8 Yale April 12 at Temple April 15 at Harvard Softball (3-8 overall, 0-0 Ivy) Florida State 4, Princeton 3 Florida State 2, Princeton 0 April 8 Brown (DH) April 9 Yale (DH) April 14 at Penn (DH) April15 Cornell (DH) April 18 Hofstra (DH) Outdoor Track April 8 at Quaker Invitational April 15 at Harvard w/Yale/Penn Lightweight Crew April 9 Villanova Invitational at Camden, NJ April 15 Wisconsin Notes: · Scores are current as of March 17 Home games in italics · * if team qualifies |