James Lofton - Stanford's Token Interview - Stanford Fan Reactions

My recent post claiming that James Lofton was a "token" interview for the job of head coach at Stanford caused an energetic conversation over at "The Bootleg," the Stanford Football message board.

This is my post below and over at The Bootleg:


zennie62
Recruit
Posts: 5
(12/12/06 9:26:39 am)
Reply | Edit

James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
Yep. I have sound reasons for this position. Hey, first of all, I'm an Old Blue -- a Cal guy -- but I'll be honest and say that I'll look for any opportunity to recommend an African American who's more than qualified for a head coaching position to anyone that represents any college, and that includes Stanford.

Right now, Stanford's looking for a head coach. They just interviewed Jim Fassel, who was at Stanford before and other than coaching John Elway -- which is huge itself -- didn't do much. Plus, that was a while ago.

Stanford also talked to San Diego wide receiver coach James Lofton. No offense to the once great NFL player, but he's Stanford's token black candidate right now, and that's pretty ugly. He's a Stanford alum, I understand. But he's not the guy who's going to be able to stack his resume against Fassel's and they -- Stanford -- knows it.

I wrote a blog post on this, as I'm pretty down regarding how this is developing ...it's here:

footballncaa.blogspot.com...rview.html



RMOTKING
Living Legend
Posts: 5011
(12/12/06 6:07:54 am)
Reply Some thoughts.....

First... I'm not put-off that you're a Cal guy, it's a legitimate concern worth discussing.

The issue of inteviewing and hiring quality African-American coaches is an important issue to me -- and I'm not Black -- as it is to many other Stanford sports fans. We take great pride at being the only Div-1a school in the country to ever hire two African-American's to coach their footall program. You haven't forgotten Denny Green or Tyrone Willingham.

And yes, from the outside looking in, I can understand how an interview with James Lofton could be viewed as a token interview.

But here's the problem.... Bowlsby is keeping the interview process very close to his vest. The premium side of the website is very hard wired into the Athletic Department and even we don't fully know who has been interviewed and who hasn't. So, it's quite possible that other African-Americans have indeed been interviewed.

The media doesn't seem to know who has and hasn't been interviewd. Most stories refer to the rumor mill, and unconfirmed speculation.

We interviewed quality AA candidates two years ago when we hired Harris and five years ago when we hired Teevens. It's not an issue that Stanford takes lightly. You'll notice our men's basketball coach, Trent Johnson, is African-American.

Still, it's an issue worth monitoring closely. Hopefully, when the new football coach is introduced, questions will be asked, and answers will be made clear.

-Michael Forrset-



beeg dawg
Living Legend
Posts: 7644
(12/12/06 8:33:13 am)
Reply
Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
Well Zennie, you have a point. As far as we know, Lofton is the only AA interviewed up to this point. The AD has kept the process very quiet, and even back door sources are in the dark about who is being interviewed.

IMO, Stanford is interviewing candidates that don't fit for the the job. After the last two hires (failures) Stanford can't afford to wiff - and that means no OJT. We need a guy who is a head coach and will arrive on campus with (most of) his staff intact and ready to go.

I don't know if Lofton has all the skills required for the job, although others have assured me that he does. For me, he does not have the experience required.

From your blog post -

Quote:
And don't -- before some of you do it -- give me that term "race card" as I'll immediately brand you as stupid.


I will gladly wear the stupid badge. Calling Lofton a "token" interview - implying he only got the interview because he is black - is playing the race card, regardless of how you spin it.

You may have the last word. I'm certainly not going to dignify your accusation with another response.



dpbrewster
Gameday Standout
Posts: 412
(12/12/06 8:52:03 am)
Reply Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
Lofton isn't/won't be anybody's token.


topcamera
Redshirt
Posts: 118
(12/12/06 8:55:55 am)
Reply Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
Black, white, brown, Croation, Zulu, Tamil Tiger, Martian...just win baby.



Four Heismans
Recruit
Posts: 6
(12/12/06 8:59:21 am)
Reply Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
What about ucla's Walker? He could be a fine hire, and he's black. That would satisfy the adminstration/PC folks, and he appears to be a fine coach.



SL
Hall of Famer
Posts: 3461
(12/12/06 9:05:40 am)
Reply Race card inuendos
BD, I'm going to tag team with you on this one.

Zennie, regarding race cards, how about this piece of writing from you?

(Well, they did pass on former USC and now Tennessee Titans Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow and the word on the street was because he's Asian. I hope the word's not a reliable source, but I wonder.)

The real word on the street on why Chow is not getting a college football HC job is because he is seen as less than a tireless worker, pretty bland personality, and standoffish in regards to alumni and recruits. These judgements have come from his previous college coaching assignments. He is just not seen as "high-octane" enough for the major BCS football programs to take a chance on him. None of the colleges that have considered him on a short list for a HC opportunity have questioned his Offensive Coordinator abilities, but they objectively are "worried" about him as Head Coach material. Yes, he is being "spurned", but if colleges thought he had high potential to be a successful head coach, they would hire him.



zennie62
Recruit
Posts: 4
(12/12/06 9:11:51 am)
Reply | Edit Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
In a high-profile settting like Stanford Athletics, all I'm saying is that it's a good idea to avoid appearances like the one of tokenism that appears here.

The Stanford hiring and interviewing process done in the past was under a different Athletic Director, not this one. What Bob should understand -- and I've met him -- is that there's an infrastructure of people who keep track of what colleges do in this area and report any terrible performance. The person who best does this is Dr. Richard Lapshek of the University of South Florida, and to whom I'm going to inform of the matter at Stanford.

I'm personally sick to my stomach of this knee-jerk desire to recruit any young Black man who plays football. You can't deny there's a problem. I'll bet that somewhere out there is a white running back who runs a 4.4 40 and yet hasn't been heavily recruited or even looked at by major colleges. The mental illness this society maintains that "slots" people based on skin color must be atttacked and destroyed at any turn.

My reason for attacking those who fall in my trap of using the term "race card" is because many don't understand why they use it, except that they heard someone else say it and agree with that other person's insecurities.

But the fact of the matter is the only way we're going to change how we and this society deal with race problems IS to talk about them or their appearance. The term "race card" was invented by a right-wing conservative during the "O.J. Trial" and it was used first by White Republicans on political talk shows and then spread from there. Today, it's rare to find someone Black using the term, unless that person is Rod Brooks over at KNBR. But it's common for someone to use it who's White. I hear it all the time.

This dynamic should be cause for alarm. We need to remove all of the ways we censor conversation in this area of race relations. And today, they are many tools of censorship, from the use of that term, to the constant habit the media has of removing racial descriptions of people in news stories, with the exception of crime and where a description is offered. So we are conditioned to view the World in a way that it really isn't because of this.



zennie62
Recruit
Posts: 5
(12/12/06 9:26:39 am)
Reply | Edit Re: Race card inuendos
I'm going to attack that one with gusto and take your tag team on.

How in the World could anyone even think that Norm Chow is bland? BLAND? How could they dream that his offenses would not be productive? That's a crock. Have you ever --- once -- seen him in a practice installing an offense? Do you realize that the use of option routes for running backs out of the backfield came from HIM at BYU and not Coach Walsh? Have you read any of Norm's coaching papers?

Norm's a veteran offensive coordinator who's just plain smart and the results of this we see each day -- Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Vince Young, Matt Castle, and on and on.

It's funny that Norm Chow doesn't get hired for -- man, this burns me -- the same reasons that someone in this thread criticized Tyrone Willingham for being in his personality. Yet, Tyrone has done well over his tenure, and in the case of Notre Dame was first looked over -- and arguably a token interview -- until he waved his hand agressively and said "Look at me!"

Look, people will come up with some weird reason to mask their real intentions -- you and I both know this. It's only when we start to analyze these actions over time that these inconsistencies are revealed. And then I for one ask questions.

It's for examples like this that I see NOW why there is a "word on the street." Look the sad -- and it's really sad -- reality is that there are two conversations: those that happen between people of color and those who are white and those that happen between people of color, period. It's there that the "word on the street" comes out.

Many people of color don't bother to share these ideas with anyone White, so consider this a rare treat. I do so because not to is to be phony, which I detest.


topcamera
Redshirt
Posts: 120
(12/12/06 9:29:37 am)
Reply Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
Point made re the press. Do you think we can get beyond the media tip-toeing if Obama announces or will race get in the way of the public's perception of his ability, experience and vision?


johnnyo53
All-Conference
Posts: 565
(12/12/06 9:37:37 am)
Reply Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
USUALLY THE PEOPLE KEEPING TRACK OF THIS KIND OF NONSENSE ARE THE ONES WITH THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THEMSELVES, AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SATISFY THEM ANYWAY.
BB DOESN'T NEED ANY HELP NAVIGATING THROUGH THIS TYPE OF BS, I'M SURE HE'S DOING HIS JOB TO THE BEST OF HIS ABILITY, AND COVERING ALL THE BASES.
SINCE WE DON'T KNOW ALL THE PEOPLE HE'S TALKED TO, IT SEEMS A LITTLE PRESUMPTIOUS TO START THROWING AROUND "TOKEN" LABELS DOESN'T IT?
AND IF YOU KNOW JAMES, YOU KNOW HE'S NOT GOING TO BE USED ANYWAY.
I'M TIRED OF DE FACTO QUOTAS AND PC SPEECH ANYWAY.
THE DYNAMIC THAT IS BOTHERSOME, IS THAT TOO MANY PEOPLE ON VARIOUS SIDES OF RACIAL ISSUES JUST DON'T HAVE MORE CONSTRUCTIVE WAYS TO SPEND THEIR TIME RATHER THAN BICKERING OVER DEFINITIONS, QUALIFICATIONS, AND DEMONIZING EACH OTHER.

zennie62
Recruit
Posts: 6
(12/12/06 9:40:30 am)
Reply | Edit Re: James Lofton - Stanford's Token In The Coach Search.
I was really, really happy to see the reception for him in New Hampshire. Regardless of the future, Obama's already reached a first in that there's never been this kind of reaction to an African American elected official on a national stage. But I am an optimist. I think he can reach the Brass Ring of a victory. For all of my criticism, I do love what's happening in politics and I think America's ready for Obama. The question is what will the hot light of scrutiny bring? If Barack gets by that, he's golden.