Pat Forde believes that a series of controversies are threatening to tarnish the legacy of Air Force Academy head football coach Fisher DeBerry.
DeBerry should retire before his legacy slips (ESPN)
This is looking like an excellent time for Fisher DeBerry to retire. He's had a great run at the Air Force Academy -- arguably the greatest run for a service academy coach in the last 50 years, since Red Blaik at Army -- but his remarkable legacy is sinking fast. Why lose it in the quicksand of unwise racial remarks, combative Christianity and too many losses? Why not call it a career at the end of this, his 22nd year as head coach, and ride off into the Rocky Mountain sunset?[...]
Then, after losing to TCU Saturday to drop to 3-5, DeBerry explained that the Horned Frogs' defensive success is attributable to the fact that it starts 11 African-Americans. "... Afro-American kids can run very, very well," DeBerry said. "That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well."
Again, not ideal timing. On Monday, the academy welcomed a new superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Regni, who pledged a zero-tolerance policy toward discrimination. On Tuesday, DeBerry piped up about TCU's African-American players, stopping just short of saying, "We need us some more of those black fellers."
I'm not saying that Fisher DeBerry discriminates. I went to high school on the base of the Air Force Academy, and I graduated a few years ahead of Fisher's son, Joe (who was a fine baseball player). I don't know anyone in my hometown of Colorado Springs, Colo., who doesn't think highly of DeBerry.
So it's not like DeBerry was inventing something here -- or even saying something many coaches don't talk about in private. But given the decades of wrongly stereotyping black athletes as physically superior and mentally inferior -- run fast, think slow -- the coach was walking into a minefield. He was creeping toward Jimmy "The Greek" territory -- and every coach knows that you don't go there. Certainly not without great care.
I'm all for a more open dialog about race in America, and especially in sports. But sweeping generalizations about fast black players are going to get a coach in trouble.
There's little denying that. But should it?
My take at Outside the Beltway
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Comments (4)
What? The political correc... (Below threshold)1. Posted by tim | October 26, 2005 5:27 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
What? The political correctness in this country is retarded. Anyone who denies the veracity of what Fisher said is a delusional idiot. Check out my site.
Diesel Sports Blog
1. Posted by tim | October 26, 2005 5:27 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 26, 2005 17:27
2. Posted by longrange | October 27, 2005 11:45 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
On Fisher DeBerry
One must assume that DeBerry's black receivers, if not fast enough, at least follow instruction well. And whose instructions were followed if not DeBerry's own?
DeBerry's assistant personally apologized to TCU's Coleman and Coach Patterson for Thompson's deliberate clip. Saying that such acts were not good football, his language was that of one embarrassed by the act, not one who sent in the play. DeBerry had nothing to say on the matter. The Falcons' penalty history is replete with clip blocks euphemized all sorts of ways. The TCU incident vividly captions history by its blatancy.
TCU is not the first opponent DeBerry has faced with blacks in key positions, nor have all his opponents' players been faster than all AF's. But frustration by an opponent is neither validates malevolent leadership nor desultory comment.
Maybe DeBerry should offer an apology for his own actions.
DeBerry's comment to the ADL in June probably presages his current exhibition. Affirming his own faith, DeBerry conceded the possibility that faith expressions not attributing his own should be tolerated. This was DeBerry's response to discussion that he and his staff-team charges were operating the same dynamic as the broader faculty-staff-cadet cooperative in establishing a "proselytize/punish" dialectic projected as piety and evangelism on behalf of fundamentalist protestant Christian faith.
DeBerry is not the root of the problems inherent at the Air Force Academy. The several scandals brought out of the Blue over the past several years tell us more about how DeBerry's brand of leadership has found a fit there.
Branding DeBerry as racist requires judging a man on narrow and subjective criteria. Evaluating DeBerry's leadership on the two objective points of forcing a belief system and directing players to unsportsmanlike (if not malevolent) acts is simply a qualitative fact review. Better we consider the DeBerry issue on his actions than his nuances.
2. Posted by longrange | October 27, 2005 11:45 AM |
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Posted on October 27, 2005 11:45
3. Posted by Abe | October 27, 2005 2:46 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I am still trying to figure out what DeBerry said that was either racist or incorrect. Indeed, he was being complimentary to blacks.
You want offensive? Blacks commit too much crime, their men don't stay with their women, and they spend too much on lottery tickets.
3. Posted by Abe | October 27, 2005 2:46 PM |
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Posted on October 27, 2005 14:46
4. Posted by Nate | October 28, 2005 9:47 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
This is ridiculous. I played for Coach DeBerry for a year and I would challenge anyone to find another program in the 1A world that is held to the same standards week in and week out that USAFA is held to. This guy is all about people doing the right thing and has not caved in to the football factory mentality that has spread through the country. The ONLY reason he is being ridiculed is because he is white - plain and simple. The 10% of the pot stirrers in the country must be loving this right now. I think it is tragic. I would give my right arm to have Fisher DeBerry coach my son some day.
4. Posted by Nate | October 28, 2005 9:47 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 28, 2005 09:47