Tyrone Nix Article

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Nix has a Strong bond

USC’s defensive coordinators past and present to meet at The Swamp

By JOSEPH PERSON

jperson@thestate.com

Shortly after becoming the youngest coordinator in the country in 2001, Tyrone Nix brought his Southern Mississippi defensive staff to Columbia to visit with USC defensive coordinator Charlie Strong.

Nix was 29 at the time, while the 41-year-old Strong was among the nation’s hottest head-coaching candidates because of his success running the Gamecocks’ 3-3-5 scheme. Nix spent two days with Strong, taking notes, sharing ideas and eating well.

Five years later, the two will square off Saturday when USC travels to No. 6 Florida, where Strong moved following the 2002 season. Though the two are not close friends, Nix and Strong share a common bond as well-respected, minority coordinators in a profession that counts few blacks among its head coaches.

Despite recent efforts by the NCAA and the Black Coaches Association, the disparity between black and white head coaches remains staggering.

Of the 414 head-coaching vacancies in Division I-A since 1982, 21 blacks have been hired. With blacks filling two of the 10 openings this past offseason — Turner Gill at Buffalo and Ron Prince at Kansas State — there are now five blacks among 119 head coaches in I-A.

One of the five is Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom, who made history as the Southeastern Conference’s first black coach when he was hired before the 2004 season. Though Croom is not pleased with the overall picture, he points to the number of black coordinators in the SEC as a hopeful sign.

With Kentucky offensive coordinator Joker Phillips, a former USC assistant, and Mississippi State offensive coordinator Woody McCorvey joining Nix and Strong, blacks hold four of the conference’s 23 coordinator titles.

“If you’ve got minorities in the coordinator position, then eventually they will be in the head-coaching position,” Croom said.

“If they’re not coordinators, what athletic director is going to name a minority candidate to his podium and announce him as a head coach that hasn’t had the qualifications of being a coordinator at a major institution? A guy’s not going to do that.”

A study found that 12.2 percent of I-A coordinators are black, according to Richard Lapchick, the director of University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. The full results of the study will be released in December.

Strong has been a coordinator since Lou Holtz hired him at USC in 1999. He had a number of interviews for head-coaching posts while at USC, including three (with Vanderbilt, Kansas and California) after the ‘01 season when the Gamecocks ranked among the top 30 defenses nationally in several categories.

Despite the interviews — Strong also talked with Tulsa and East Carolina — the Arkansas native has been a head coach for one game. After Ron Zook’s ouster from Florida following the 2004 regular season, Strong was the Gators’ interim coach for their 27-10 loss to Miami in the Peach Bowl.

Nix recalled being impressed with Strong following their session in Columbia.

“He was sharp at what he was doing,” Nix said, “and didn’t have a big enough ego that he wouldn’t visit and talk about some of the things they were doing scheme-wise.”

Strong, who shares coordinator duties with Greg Mattison, is overseeing another strong unit. The Gators are No. 5 nationally in rushing defense (70.1 yards a game) and 12th in total defense (275.4).

Strong declined interview requests this week.

Meanwhile, USC is 27th nationally in both scoring defense (17.2 points a game) and pass defense (168.2 yards) in Nix’s first full season as the Gamecocks’ lone coordinator. He shared the post with John Thompson in 2005 until taking over the defensive play-calling two-thirds of the way through the season.

“I’m not a pioneer like Sylvester and some of those guys that battled their way up,” Nix said. “I’m young. I’m 34. I’ve just been blessed to be at the right place at the right time.”

Though Nix has yet to interview for a head-coaching position, USC secondary coach Ron Cooper said Nix’s day is coming.

“He’s not going to go look for one. Somebody’s going to have to come get him,” Cooper said. “Does everybody jump right into the major majors? No, they don’t. Everybody starts somewhere.”

Cooper, who is black, has been a head coach at Eastern Michigan, Louisville and Alabama A&M. The 44-year-old Cooper has spoken with Nix about some of the mistakes he made as a young head coach and other aspects of the job.

“He’s a bright coach. He’s a bright guy. He understands all that,” Cooper said. “When the time comes, he’s got to make the right decision for himself and then try to get it if he wants it.”

What Nix wants presently is more consistency and big plays from a unit that gave up 495 yards in last week’s loss to Arkansas.

“Hopefully, we can play the type of defense that’s expected of us,” Nix said. “If something else come out of it, that’s great. That’s another blessing. But right now I’m concerned with one job at hand, and that’s getting the Gamecocks better.”

Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.