LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Joker Phillips thought his longtime friend Charlie Strong would get the opportunity to be a head coach years ago.
It didn’t happen.
Each offseason would follow a similar pattern: Jobs would come open, the former Florida defensive coordinator’s name would emerge as one of the top minority candidates and each time the offer would be made to someone else. Someone hite.
“I thought he would be the guy,” Phillips said of Strong.
The tide, however, finally appears to be slowly turning.
Both Phillips and Strong are among a dozen Black head coaches at FBS schools, triple the number of Black head coaches two years ago. It’s the most there have ever been, but still just 10 percent of the 120 FBS coaches.
“It’s coming,” said Tony Dungy, who led the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl and remains a leading advocate of diversity. “Now is it fast enough? Is it everything we’d like to see? No. But these new guys will come in and do a great job, and they’ll pave the way for others.”
