Nothing’s Cozy About Kentucky

Dear Coach Orlando Smith,

May I call you “Tubby”? You don’t know me, but I hope you will read this letter with an open mind.

When University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino resigned Tuesday, yours was the first name many fans uttered as a possible Pitino replacement.

They said you have more experience, that you love the run-and-gun style of play that has marked Pitino’s eight years here. They said no one in his right mind would turn down the opportunity to coach men’s basketball at UK. And, they said, you were the logical choice to follow Pitino.

I’m writing this letter in hopes it reaches you in time because I want to urge you to stay where you are.

I know the UK coaching job is the type of position most college basketball coaches work toward. I know it is like getting a key to the executive washroom when just a generation ago many black men were cleaning that room. And I know your taking the job would be a mega-boost to the self images of so many of our young people.

But you would be the first black coach to lead the men’s basketball program, and I want to remind you that the first of any movement suffers the most.

Kentucky fans aren’t ready for a black head coach. Kentucky fans aren’t ready for anyone to coach basketball but Rick Pitino.

Those are two obstacles you would have to overcome before getting down to the business of winning. And winning is everything.

In Georgia, basketball is a distant second in the hearts of a football-loving state. In Kentucky, basketball is king. You would be top dog - er, Cat - and you would be expected to win every time.

The first time you lose a game, you will not be called a stupid coach. You will be called a stupid black coach.

Kentucky’s race relations have never come under a microscope as those in Georgia and Mississippi and Arkansas have. We have not been forced to re-examine tradition here as they have in Minnesota. We cling to the lie that everything, race-wise, is just fine.

Your time here as assistant coach should not be used as a gauge of what you can expect this time around. You did not have any power then; as head coach you will, and that threatens a lot of people.

Your mail would be hate-filled and truly evil. The things people would feel free to say to your face would be unconscionable. Criticism would be aimed at your lack of intelligence rather than your lack of coaching skills. And through it all, you must win.

It will be hard enough for a white coach to follow Pitino. It will be an awesome responsibility for a black one.

I can hear racists throughout this commonwealth agreeing with this letter. Others who are more enlightened will say I have become so indoctrinated into this racist system I am just like my oppressors.

All of that may be true. But I sincerely fear for your safety and the safety of your family if you agree to become head coach. I am not interested in using you as a social symbol or as proof of what the black man can accomplish given the opportunity. Nor am I interested in seeing you transformed into a lightning rod for this state’s bigots.

I would love to see you guide the team to victory. I would love to see more black people in this community becoming UK fans as I am. And I would love to see the university finally acknowledge in some way that black people have the wherewithal to lead.

But I am more concerned with your sanity, your peace of mind, your family life.

I think you would lose all of that in Kentucky. No matter how badly this state, city and university need you, you don’t need us.

Sincerely,

Merlene Davis

cc: Coach Clem Haskins