One way to start would be by making the university athletic program adhere to university hiring practices. Many universities don't require this now and it leads to discrimination and a smaller pool of candidates, which may or may not include minorities and/or women.

Secure more Head Hunter firms that can and will provide more minorty candidates. The current system is a joke and totally unbalanced. If it's not racism, can someone explain the numbers with out insulting a persons intelligence. The Rooney rule should be applied with penalties, loss of coaches or scholarships or both for non compliance. All that's being asked is for an opportunity to compete for leadership roles and career advancement after you have played by the rules and demonstrated that you are willing to work hard and achieve like everyone else. Make universities use a disclaimer about being an equal opportunity employer. It should say we are equal opportunity employers for certain positions not all.

There are many openings right now. Some of these positions should be filled by african-american coaches. This question should be posed after these positions are filled. If there are no african-american coaches given jobs after this, then it would be regression. Turner Gill will probably get a higher profile school, so this will leave another opening. There will probably be more openings as the season is ending and some coaches will be getting other jobs.

The NCAA should think about avoiding a lawsuit under Agency Law. They are potentially liable for the actions of their "member institutions" and the obvious display of discrimination displayed by the history of hiring practices in the NCAA. Specifically, in the football playing "major" programs. The NCAA, if they are truly concerned about this issue, will use the vast amount of financial and disciplinary power that it holds over its members then the NCAA institute a best practices hiring plan. This plan should force NCAA member institutions to, at least, interview minority candidates after keeping any coaching vacancy open for a pre-determined time frame. The NCAA does not have to trail blaze the answer to this issue they simply have to look at the professional league where they prepare and send their football student-athletes annually, the NFL.

It's interesting to me that though there is no doubt a problem with the way things are right now, it's not as though the numbers are this way in any extremely surprising manner when you take some different perspectives. There are far more assistant coaches that are white too. Head coaches used to be assistants. It's part of working up the ladder. Get more African-Americans interested in being assistant football coaches first, then there will be even more qualified candidates and it will strengthen the claim. In many cases, it's easier for African-Americans to get assistant jobs. I know this from being passed right over for being white, twice. Also, in the NFL there are more black players than white players. A man cannot start his coaching career until he is done playing. Being that there are more white college players and more of them that don't move on to the highest level, it seems that they do get a bit of a head start in coaching. The more experienced, the more qualified. Albeit, this is only a small part of why things are this way. Another aspect that arrives into the equation of what I am formulating is that the graduation rates of African-American football players must improve to help solve the problem. First, it must be known that usually coaches have played at somewhat of a high level. As I previously state, in the NFL there are a majority on the side of black players over whites as far as numbers. But a very low percentage of those players graduated from their college (black and white). Being that there have been more blacks than whites in the NFL, this increases the low percentage of blacks graduating. To be a head coach, you must have your bachelors and a masters isn't a rarity either. In other words, the educational part of a coach's background has to be in check. No one ever touches on this because they may view it as taboo, but it's the way it is. Every angle must be looked at so in the future when we are talking about this subject, we are talking about how far we have come. I would be remiss to not emphasize that I do think there is a problem. There are plenty of qualified African-American coaches right now that are not receiving their opportunities. But, we have to look at it from every angle and improve it. Apparently, screaming for the hiring process to be fixed isn't going to cut it.

There are many problems with the way the system is now and they will continue to get worse unless change is forced. First, I am a Black Coach and I first say it is not appropriate to just blanket hire people but the opportunities should be given. The biggest problem is the profession. With tenures of everyone being short, all coaches are more likely to hire who they know and feel they can be the most successful with the fastest. Having said that, there is no wonder there are fewer Black assistants because as a White head coach, you're going to call people you know and trust, which means 7 white guys and the compulsory two black guys. Look and coach Crooms staff, 8 black 1 white. He gave people a chance but by far they were people he was comfortable with! Look at the starting rosters of the top 5 BCS teams. 85-90% black, but there are only a total of 12 black coaches out of 45 plus 5 head coaches(50 guys-24%). The pros are reflective of the number as well but why we can't coach those young men is a complete insult. You can say what you will about the pros and graduation but the bottom line is as in most things in this country, the haves keep getting and protect their own and the have nots keep struggling to get in. I know I can coach those guys, but until someone who knows me gets a job, my chances are highly limited and unlikely.

I dont feel that this is an issue of lack of opportunities for black head coaches. My opinion is that administrators want to hire the best individual for the job regardless of ethnicity or skin color.
The african american coaches that lost their jobs this year did not get fired because they were black. They were not performing at the expectations of the administration. This is the nature of the coaching profession and all ethnicities are susceptible.
This is just another example of the media creating controversy and drama. Have no fear, there are several qualified, proven african american coaches that we will see roaming the sidelines in the years to come.