For all the talk about instituting a Rooney Rule in collegiate athletics to open the college football head coaching door to minority candidates, there sure isn’t much second thought given to the plight of the Asian-American college basketball player or coach. I would like Sir Charles and Dr. Richard Lapchick to chew on this for a second:
Of 4,814 Division I men’s basketball players in 2006-07, there were 19 Asian Americans (including Pacific Islanders and ethnically mixed), according to the most recent NCAA Student-Athlete Race and Ethnicity Report. That’s 0.4 percent.
…
“I understand assistant coaches you have to recruit – most (players) are Caucasian – so they ask, ‘What can you help us do? Recruit Asians?’ ”[Seattle Pacific’s basketball coach Jeff] Hironaka continued: “You don’t want to call it discrimination, but it’s a discrimination kind of scenario. Sometimes you have to accept the reality of it. It’s a tough barrier to crack.”
I’m not sure which is harder these days, to be an Asian-American baller, or an Asian-American coach. Where’s the outcry and demand for programs to start opening their basketball doors to Asians? Have Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian not proven that Asians can shake the stereotype and actually become successful basketball players? Why shouldn’t more Asians be represented on the court or behind the bench?
(Thanks to LBS contributor Andy for the story; former UCLA guard and current UCSD point guard Kelvin Kim is pictured)
