Larry Scott is Tennessee's 1st black offensive coordinator in 121-year history
It happened exactly the way Larry Scott wanted.
There was no big pronouncement. It wasn’t highlighted in a news release. In fact, Scott and University of Tennessee athletics officials weren’t even aware of the historic significance until contacted by a reporter.
In being promoted to offensive coordinator last month, Scott, 40, became the first black offensive coordinator in the 121-year history of Tennessee football.
“It is quite an honor. I have always tried to just keep my head down and work hard and at some point in your life you hope you get rewarded. Right now is an example of that,” Scott told the News Sentinel. “I hope it is something that leads to another African-American coach having the opportunity to be coordinator at a place like Tennessee and in the SEC. I hope this can be an example to give them when they are ready to do it at this level.”
As the nation celebrates Black History Month, diversity at the highest levels of college football coaching remains a work in progress.
Among the 128 head coaches at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, only 13 are black, including Vanderbilt's Derek Mason. Scott is one of only 17 black offensive coordinators at the FBS level. Scott is the only offensive coordinator among the four in the SEC that doesn’t share the role as co-coordinator.
Defensively, there are 32 black coordinators, including eight in the SEC. Half of the SEC coordinators come from two staffs - Missouri and South Carolina - as co-coordinators.
The University of Illinois - led by former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith - is the only FBS program with a black head coach and black offensive and defensive coordinators.
Blacks account for only 10.2 percent of FBS head coaches in a sport where 53.4 percent of the players are black, according to a 2015 report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports.
Serving as a coordinator is a major step in the process of becoming a head coach at any level.
John Wooten is chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which promotes diversity and equality of job opportunities in coaching, front office and scouting staffs in the NFL.
In his position, Wooten pays close attention to the hiring of minorities on college staffs.
“I have to commend the University of Tennessee because this is a step in the right direction," Wooten said. "Colleges, particularly at the Division I level for football, are way behind the times as it relates to other sports throughout college and into the NFL and NBA. The fact they are moving in the right direction with this pipeline from coordinator to potentially a head coach is great news.”
Although the number of black head coaches at the FBS level has increased from only three in 2007 to 13 this year, it has dropped from a high of 17 in 2011.
UT has never had a black head football coach in its history. Kippy Brown served as the interim head coach in 2010 after Lane Kiffin left for Southern California.
A 2016 study that focused on racial disparity in leadership in the NFL found that white position coaches were 114 percent more likely to become a coordinator than black position coaches. The study did not examine college football.
“With that important qualifier, our study does indicate that experience as an NFL offensive coordinator position substantially improves one’s chances of being promoted to NFL head coach,” said Christopher I. Rider, a professor at Georgetown involved in the study. “Our study also indicates that equally qualified, equally performing white assistant coaches are approximately twice as likely to be promoted to a coordinator position as minority coaches are. But the racial disparity in promotion rates does not hold for coaches who attain coordinator positions. To the extent that NCAA and NFL coaching career prospects are similar, being hired as offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee would seem to improve one’s chances of becoming a head coach.”
Scott has career aspirations of leading his own college program. He was interviewed for at least two head coaching openings in the offseason and served as the interim head coach at the University of Miami in 2015.
Scott led Miami to four wins in its last five games. After Miami hired former Georgia coach Mark Richt, Scott came to UT as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator.
Although Scott has always been aware of the discrepancy in opportunities between black and white coaches in football, he’s never let race discourage him.
“I am a little different in that way. I never looked at that as a hurdle," Scott said. "I looked at those things as opportunities or a springboard to continue to grow and learn. I have always wanted my reputation to precede the color of my skin. I was never out to prove anything or seen that as a chip on my shoulder so to speak.”
Scott was raised by a single mother in Sebring, Fla. Ernestine Stone taught Larry and his younger brother, LaVaar, to not let prejudice hold them back.
“Larry never let race be a hindrance. All he needed to do was achieve academically and he would be successful,” Stone said. “You had to instill into young black men to be ready academically if you wanted to be successful. Make the A’s and the B’s or you can’t compete. Being athletically gifted can be easily taken away from you, but your academic scholarship can’t be taken away from you.”
Stone appreciates the guidance her son has received throughout his coaching career, dating back to his coach at USF, Jim Leavitt, who saw Scott’s ability to coach and inspire players and encouraged him to pursue his passion.
“It brings tears to my eyes to see Larry achieve this at Tennessee because Larry has taken each step as an opportunity to his greater success,” Stone said. “Each milestone in his career has been a steppingstone to his goal, and he has tried to show the young men he is coaching, no matter what your background is, you can still overcome and thrive.”
In an effort to hire more black head coaches, the NFL implemented the Rooney Rule in 2003. Named after Pittsburgh Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, the rule mandates teams interview at least one minority candidate in the hiring process for coaches and general managers. Entering the 2017 season, seven of the NFL’s 32 coaches are black.
Several people critical of the slow pace of black hires in college football have pushed for a similar rule at the NCAA level. The NCAA’s stance has been it can’t implement a rule for such a broad spectrum of colleges regulated by different state laws and regulations.
“We have talked and met and are still working with the NCAA about this issue," Wooten said. "It’s the right thing to do. There is no reason in this time in our lives that anybody should not have the opportunity to pursue a career that he aspires to do. If you are going to be able to really make that work, you have to have a steadfast commitment and you have to do it from a rule point. You can’t expect people to just go out and do something because it is the right thing to do. We are a nation of laws and we are a nation of rules.”
Last August, the NCAA encouraged presidents and chancellors of Division I, II and III schools to sign a diversity and inclusion pledge to help increase minorities in administrative and coaching positions.
Universities are bound by federal law - Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - to not discriminate when hiring. But officials can obtain a waiver to work around the law when hiring athletic coaches.
Oregon passed a law in 2009 requiring state-funded schools to interview at least one minority candidate for a vacant head coaching position. In December, Willie Taggart was hired as the University of Oregon football program’s first black head coach.
Several organizations created to support black coaches have failed to endure. The Black Coaches Association ran out of funding and no longer exists. The nonprofit Advocates for Athletic Equity ceased operations because of a shortfall of financial support.
Todd Berry, the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, says diversity in the coaching ranks remains a priority for the AFCA. The AFCA has a Minority Issues Committee that meets annually at its national convention.
“I don’t think we are where we need to be, but I think that we have made progress," Berry said. "I think we are all excited about the direction that we are headed. I think one of the biggest things is getting more minority students, whether they are Hispanic, African-American or Asian, interested in coaching football. I think that was always difficult because maybe they didn’t see opportunity. But I think they are seeing opportunities now.”
The people in charge of making the hires play a critical role in elevating black coaches. White men held 78.9 percent of the 128 athletics director positions at FBS schools in the 2016-17 academic year, according to a TIDES report.
The coordinators on staff are most often selected by the head coaches, an area where Berry sees improvement in enhancing diversity.
“I think the nice thing is that many of our coaches out there are not considering color anymore in relation to hiring,” Berry said. “I think that is probably the first step to getting where we want to get when all of a sudden no deference to color is being paid to.”
Scott was pleased his race wasn’t a factor when UT coach Butch Jones promoted him to run an offense for the first time in his career.
Scott hopes that colorblind approach will take place at more programs in the future.
“I don’t want to play down the significance of this because you want to have an opportunity to be an example and be out there," Scott said. "But I just want to be an example by the way my job is done and the type of relationships I make with people. I always want my production to speak for itself.”
The number of black head coaches and coordinators at the FBS level in college football.
Conference Black HC Black OC Black DC
SEC 2 4 8
ACC 1 4 2
Big Ten 2 1 5
Big 12 0 0 0
Pac-12 2 2 2
American 1 3 7
C-USA 2 1 3
MAC 2 2 1
Mountain West 0 0 3
Sun Belt 1 0 1
Independents 0 0 0
TOTALS 13 17 32
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