NCAA Coach of the Year

Jason King/ESPN recently listed candidate rankings for Coach of the Year.

FYI, here are the voters: Eamonn Brennan, Andy Katz, Jason King, Myron Medcalf, Dana O'Neil and King.

Their votes produced this:

1. Jim Larranaga, Miami - 46 (3)
2. Jim Crews, Saint Louis - 40 (1)
3. John Thompson III, Georgetown - 39
4. Buzz Williams, Marquette - 21 (1)
5. Bruce Weber, Kansas State - 17
6. Dana Altman, Oregon - 16
7. Tom Crean, Indiana - 16
8. Tom Izzo, Michigan State - 14
9. Kevin Ollie, Connecticut - 10
10. Steve Alford, New Mexico - 12

Others receiving votes: Gregg Marshall, Wichita State 7; Bo Ryan, Wisconsin, 7; Mark Few, Gonzaga 6; Mike Krzyzewski, Duke 6; Bill Self, Kansas 4; Billy Donovan, Florida 4; Larry Eustachy, Colorado State 4; John Beilein, Michigan 3; John Groce, Illinois 1.

What's intriguing is that just two black coaches appear through the Top 10 plus the nine others. Consider the percentage of blacks who play the sport in college and the number of assistant coaches on the various collegiate staffs and, well, the number listed above is miniscule.

Why so involves a plethora of factors with the primary one being black coaches are selected to head so few top level programs. Why that is also involves a multitude of factors.

There is John Thompson at Georgetown and, of course, his hiring was aided by the success and stature of his father which is important to note is not intended to diminish the success Thompson the younger achieved at Princeton.

Kevin Ollie has done a very admirable job, a position he was rewarded with after a lengthy stretch as Jim Calhoun's top assistant.

Shaka Smart at Virginia Commonwealth is not listed and that's appropriate although he didn't inherit a successful program. He and his staff built one but VCU is still not considered a blue chipper destination.

There's also Frank Haith at Missouri and Tubby Smith with Minnesota unlisted although the latter, while a Big 10 member, isn't necessarily in the status of an elite program. Missouri is a tough call.

Mike Hopkins has been duly noted as Jim Boeheim's successor at Syracuse but no retirement date seems to be on the latter's horizon and 'Cuse is also absent above..

Let's look at the current Mid-Major Top 25:

1.     Gonzaga
2.     Middle Tennessee    
3.     Wichita State   
4.     Saint Mary's    
5.     Akron    
6.     Belmont  
7.     Louisiana Tech   
8.     Stephen F. Austin
9.     Bucknell       
10.   Davidson     
11.   Creighton         
12.   Valparaiso       
13.   Murray State    
14.   Montana        
15.   BYU       
16.   Denver      
17.   Ohio       
18.   Weber State       
19.   Stony Brook       
20.   South Dakota State    
21.   Western Illinois   
22.   Detroit    
23.   Lehigh   
24.   Harvard  
25.   Norfolk State

Only Detroit, Harvard and Norfolk State have black head coaches when seemingly the odds of being a minority and hired to run a program at this level are better.

Now how many black athletic directors are there at top tier colleges or even at the mid major level?

Those statistics are even worse.