Mike Haywood Becomes Sixth Black Head Coach In Division I College Football

Miami of Ohio -- not to be confused with Miami Florida, which also has a black head coach in Randy Shannon -- has hired Notre Dame "offensive coordinator" Mike Haywood to run its program. He succeeds Shane Montgomery, who stepped down after a 2-10 season.

Color us a little confused if encouraged by this hire. Just today we wrote about Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis' continued decision to call plays for his offense instead of his, you know, offensive coordinator, who just so happened to be Haywood. It's very likely that speaks to Weis' own massive control demands, but it may also speak to Haywood's abilities. Regardless it's nice to see another black head coach among the ranks.

For a while, the prospects for minority head coaches in D-I-please-don't-call-it-the-Football-Bowl-Subdivision looked grim, as their numbers shrank when Washington canned Tyrone Willingham, Kansas State parted ways with Ron Prince, and Sylvester Croom stepped down at Mississippi State.

What has happened since has been a needed surge of black /minority coaching hires.

Eastern Michigan has taken on former Michigan and Louisville defensive coordinator Ron English. New Mexico hired Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, and now Haywood joins Miami of Ohio. They all join the aforementioned Randy Shannon, Houston's Kevin Sumlin and Buffalo's Turner Gill as the small handful of black head coaches in Division I football.

Meanwhile, there's the hot candidate Gill, who has turned around lowly Buffalo but failed to land a gig after interviews with places like Iowa State and Auburn. That one has people including outspoken Charles Barkley puzzled, but Buffalo's given him an extension and his name will likely remain among the strongest for future openings.

As for what Haywood brings to Miami of Ohio, we just don't know. He played and coached at Notre Dame and has also coached in high pedigree places like Texas and LSU. That's not a bad starter background for learning about winning in the college game.