Chapter 11 that revolves around the Intercollegiate football spectacle touches upon the football hero as a coach. Radar talks about coaches such as Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, Glen "Pop" Warner, and Dana X. Bible. The book states that heroic status of coaches come from the belief that coaches played a far more important role in winning a game. Radar tells the story of Knute Rockne and how he came to fame at Notre Dame by adding a "unique formula" to the game. He was a charismatic coach, an amazing win-loss record, and a high number of supports throughout the nation. Both the media and his player loved him.
Although this chapter talks about collegiate football coaches as hero's I feel that in today's society many professional football coaches can be looked as heroes similar to the ones talked about in the book. Let's take a look at coaches like Tony Dungy, Lovie Smith, Mike Tomlin, and Romeo Crenell. If you look at the list I just named off you can see that all off these coaches are African American. I feel that it is awesome to see the diversity in the NFL and that these coaches can be looked at as heroes by some. We also discussed this in class through the racial and gender report. If we look more in depth at one of these coaches we can see how they are really a hero in the mind of some people. Tony Dungy, who is now a retired coach from the National Football League. He has done so much for the sport in my opinion and can be looked at as a hero. He was the first African Amercian head coach to win a Superbowl title, quite an accomplishment after all of his years involved in football.
Overall, I feel as if all of these coaches can be looked at as heroes by breaking the color barrier as a coach in the NFL.
I agree that coaches like Tony Dungy and Mike Tomlin have made impressive inroads as coaches. Some credit the Rooney Rule for contributing to greater diversity among coaching in the NFL. Yet, the opportunity only opened the doors, and coaches like Tony Dungy and Mike Tomlin had to be prepared to walk through those doors, and succeed as coaches. History will record that they have done just that.
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