A recent documentary on HBO showed the challenges faced by Black players as they attempted to play in front of an all-White crowd back in the 1950's and 60's. At that time some people said "We are not ready".
Fast forward to today where high school football games are filmed in high definition color video instead of Black and White yet the position of head coach on a high school football team remains burdened with racial considerations. This from White schools and Black schools.
The best predictor of the race of a high school football coach is to look at the prevailing racial make up of the school.
Duluth football coach Corey Jarvis didn’t think race would be an issue when he was one of the top coaching candidates on the market in Georgia during the offseason
Jarvis had spent five seasons at M.L. King, a Class AAAAA school in DeKalb County. His record was 49-11. He had won a region title and sent more than 50 players into college football.
"I went on a couple of interviews outside the metro area,’’ Jarvis said. “One guy [on a hiring committee] asked if I didn’t get the head coaching job would I be a coordinator. He didn’t feel like the area was ready for a black head coach. That was kind of a slap in the face. I came in with just as good a resume and presentation than anybody else had. They wouldn’t ask anybody else that, would they?”
Black and white head coaches differ on whether racism is a factor in hiring, according to a survey of state high school football coaches conducted by Georgia High School Football Daily for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (147 of 405 coaches responded).
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