Color Coded: Nine Coaches in DI History Went From HBCU to White School

Dana Ford, shifting from Tennessee State to Missouri State, and Mike Davis, switching from Texas Southern to Detroit, became the eighth and ninth coaches in NCAA Division I history hired directly from a historically black college or university by a predominantly white school at the major-college level. There were only two such mentors in the 20th Century. The SWAC and MEAC moved up to the major-college level in 1979-80 and 1980-81, respectively.

Ford and Davis joined Jeff Capel Jr. (North Carolina A&T to Old Dominion after 1993-94 campaign), Rob Chavez (Maryland-Eastern Shore to Portland after 1993-94), Steve Merfeld (Hampton to Evansville after 2001-02), James Green (Mississippi Valley State to Jacksonville State after 2007-08), John Cooper (Tennessee State to Miami of Ohio after 2011-12), Sean Woods (Mississippi Valley State to Morehead State after 2011-12) and Anthony Evans (Norfolk State to Florida International after 2012-13). The first seven bench bosses in this category each served at least five seasons in their new digs but combined for a paltry .441 winning percentage.

No power-conference member ever has gone to a HBCU to hire its head basketball coach. None of the limited progress in this category would have occurred if not for pioneer John McLendon, who was the first African-American mentor hired by a predominantly white university when he coached Cleveland State for three seasons in the late 1960s just prior to the institution moving up to DI. After winning three consecutive NAIA titles with Tennessee State in the late 1950s, McLendon had been the first African-American head coach in professional sports when he was hired in the early 1960s by the George Steinbrenner-owned Cleveland Pipers of the short-lived American Basketball League.