I am a racist

That’s what the LA Times’ Kurt Streeter seems to think anyway.

I’ve said before that I want Karl Dorrell to be fired. And obviously, I said that because he’s black, not because of his extremely mediocre coaching record at UCLA, with only one good season in five years and never finishing above third place (and he only finished 3rd once).

Kurt Streeter wrote a column that appeared as the top story on the LA Times’ sports section on Sunday, saying UCLA should keep Karl Dorrell and effectively called those of us who want him gone racists.

I’m convinced that race plays a role in what some of you critics are saying. To think otherwise would be plain foolish. Some of you just don’t know what to make of a coach who does not fit into your convenient stereotypes.

Wow. That explains it. I want Dorrell fired because he’s black, not because he doesn’t fit into my stereotype that a UCLA coach should win a lot more than he loses.

Also from Streeter’s column:

Does he feel as if he is not getting a fair shake because he is black?

“Let me put it this way,” he said. “In every opportunity that I’ve had in my coaching career, it was never in my mind that I was dealing with a level playing field. I’ve had to do more to accomplish what I’ve accomplished.

UCLA took a huge gamble on Dorrell when they hired him in the first place. He had no previous head coaching experience and was only a receivers coach in the NFL.

Dorrell also said earlier in the column that he doesn’t believe he has gotten a “fair shake” — are you kidding me? Do many people in their 30s get head coaching jobs in a BCS conference without previous head coaching experience? Dorrell has probably encountered racism in his life, but it looks like race didn’t stop him at all from getting a job that few others get without head coaching experience.

There definitely is racism in this world, I don’t doubt that for a moment. It’s extremely unfortunate that only six out of 119 Division I-A head coaches are black. But to not be racists, we have to judge people on what they’ve done, not the color of their skin, right? And when you judge Dorrell on what he’s done at UCLA, well, he doesn’t stack up that well:

UCLA head coach winning percentages since 1965
*Ed Kezirian 1.000
Dick Vermeil .714
Tommy Prothro .685
Terry Donahue .640
Pepper Rodgers .609
^Bob Toledo .605
Karl Dorrell .567

 

*Kezirian coached only one game, but I like the guy, so I included him.
^Was fired for his poor performance

There are plenty examples of racial injustice in this country. The likely firing of Karl Dorrell isn’t one of them.