WHERE ARE BLACK COACHES?; FOLLOWING TREND, CSUN FINALISTS NOT AFRICAN-AMERICAN.

Byline: Marc J. Spears Daily News Staff Writer

It's no surprise Cal State Northridge's next football coach will not be an African-American.

Only two of the 101 Division I-AA college football head coaching jobs were held by African-Americans last season, excluding 16 predominantly black schools. Of CSUN's final three candidates for its head coaching vacancy, not one is African-American.

``I personally don't believe you should bring in (an African-American) just to do it,'' said CSUN athletic director Paul Bubb, who plans to fill the position by Friday. ``I'd love to have 10 candidates, but I get enough criticism about the budget. You would like to think that you can take a serious look at every person, but the process is limited.

``I'm looking for the best candidate.''

The school's five-person search and screen committee, which included vice president of student life William Watkins, who is an African-American, decided on CSUN assistant Jeff Kearin, San Jose State defensive coordinator Ron Ponciano and Northern Iowa defensive coordinator Tom Mason as its final three candidates. The job became open when first-year coach Jim Fenwick took a position as New Mexico's offensive coordinator on Jan. 5.

CSUN student body president and committee member Brad Marsh said, ``I was only aware of a couple of black candidates and they weren't nearly up to the caliber of the people we're bringing in. There wasn't a conscious effort to know if the coaches were black or not since we were just looking at the names on the paper.''

However, one interesting African-American candidate was Division II University of Minnesota at Morris head coach John Parker, who has strong qualifications.

Parker, who just completed his second year at UMM, turned around a program which had a mutiny against its previous coach. After an 0-10 start with just 41 players in 1996, UMM snapped a Division II-worst 27-game losing streak and finished 4-6 in 1997. He was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year with a nonscholarship program that competed against teams with 36 scholarships apiece.

Parker is a member of the Black Coaches Association Football Advisory Board and Minnesota's first African-American university football coach. He sent CSUN a 125-page report on how to run a program successfully - athletically and academically.

``It is frustrating being a minority coach,'' said Parker, who placed second in 13 head coach interviews before getting the UMM job. ``Everything you do, you have to do four times better (than a non-minority) to get a look.

``(Black coaches) aren't asking for the world. We're just asking for a legitimate shot.''

What hurt the former Ball State football player was having just two years of I-AA experience as an assistant at East Tennessee State and no strong ties to CSUN or the Big Sky. However, Bubb was impressed with him and Ponciano, who recently interviewed Parker for the San Jose State special teams position, would consider offering him a job as a top assistant if hired.

Bubb said, ``If John Parker had similar experience, he'd be in the pool.''

In Division I-A and I-AA football last season, 51 percent of the participants were African-American. At CSUN, 31 of 81 players are black. However, only 6 of 112 I-A coaching jobs are held by African-Americans and none of the 12 openings after last season were filled by blacks.

In Division I basketball, 60.8 percent of the players and 26 percent of the head coaches (80 of 306) are African-American. The Big Sky has three African-American basketball coaches at its nine schools, including CSUN's Bobby Braswell, but never has had an African-American football coach.

``I sure hope it changes in (football),'' said Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton, who said Bubb was interested in finding a black candidate. ``It is a sensitive issue, but a lot of the Big Sky schools are located in rural areas where you can count the African-American families on one hand. The comparison between black football and basketball coaches is surprising. But hopefully with the recent addition of three schools (CSUN, Sacramento State and Portland State) and more black assistants, that will end in the Big Sky.''

CSUN president Blenda Wilson, who is an African-American, believes it is tougher for blacks to move up the ladder in football because much more experience is needed. But she also believes that a door needs to be opened for a future opportunity.

``Why doesn't this sport open the opportunities (to blacks)?,'' said Wilson, who was happy with the finalist list. ``Unless you give a chance to gain experience, minorities and women will always be left out. But we have a good representation of qualified minority coaches here.''

BLACK COACHES: BY THE NUMBERS

Sport Coaches Schools

Div. I-A Football 6 112

Div. I-AA Football 2 101 (x)

Racial makeup of head coaches of CSUN's 16 sports teams:

White male: 9 (xx)

White female: 2

African-American: 1

Asian: 1

Middle Eastern: 1

(x) Figure includes 16 predominantly African-American schools.

(xx) Don Strametz coaches men's and women's track and field and cross country.

(xx) Barry Schreifels coaches men's and women's swimming and diving.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO (Color) Division II University of Minnesota at Morris head coach John Parker applied for the CSUN job but is not a finalist.

Special to the Daily News

BOX: BLACK COACHES: BY THE NUMBERS (see text)