Doc Rivers Recreates NBA History

Amid all the hoopla of the Boston Celtics' sound thrashing of the supposedly vaunted Los Angeles Lakers and superstar shooting guard Kobe Bryant, is the fact the Celtics' head coach Glen 'Doc' Rivers has become the first African-American NBA head coach to lead his team to an NBA championship since NBA legend and Hall of Fame inductee, K.C. Jones accomplished the feat by leading the very same Celtics franchise to their last NBA championship in 1985-86, when they beat the Houston Rockets 4-2.

Now, I know a lot of Rivers' critics will almost immediately come up with the argument that Rivers' success lies solely at the feet of Boston's three future Hall of Fame inductees, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett - and while much of that theory would be true - simply because good players win games in the NBA, the fact of the matter is that Rivers pushed all the right buttons in leading the Celtics to their first NBA title in 22 seasons.

Not only did Rivers masterfully guide the Celtics through an extremely treacherous postseason run, beginning with their first round series against the Atlanta Hawks, but Rivers - dare I say it - totally out-coached Lakers Hall of Fame head coach Phil Jackson the entire duration of the NBA Finals.

In particular, Rivers was clearly more masterful in the teams' now, historic Game 4 matchup in which the Celtics stormed back from a huge 24-point deficit to pull off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history.

Whether he's ever given his proper credit for Boston's success in 2007-08 or not, (which I suspect he may not be), two questions beg to be asked months after Rivers led the Celtics to their enthralling championship title run.

First, why has the national media largely ignored mentioning Rivers' accomplishment - and more importantly - what impact will Rivers' success mean for other head coaches of color in the short and long-term future for coaches of color in the NBA?'

To answer the first, all one has to do is look at the staggeringly miniscule number of black sports journalists nationally.

Without straying too far away from the basis of this article, those disheartening statistics suggest that African-American sports columnists, writers and editors may never be in a position to really make a big dent in changing public perceptions about some minority coaches or payers simply because they are not being given the opportunity!

In a study done just two years ago, of more than 300 newspapers surveyed, 90 percent have white, male sports editors while just five African-American men (1.6 percent) lead their own respective sports sections.

Out of nearly 300 sports columnists, 84 percent are white males and a pitiful seven percent, (just 22), were black men.

I suspect that, until more sports writers of color are hired and put in positions where their respective opinions will be read by millions of readers, many of the same stereotypical sports columns and articles will continue to fail in positively portraying a multitude of black head coaches and players.

Just think back readers ... besides this column, how many have been written by national sports media outlets about Rivers totally out-coaching Jackson in the Finals?

To answer the question of what Rivers' accomplishment could mean in the future for coaches of color, all one has to do is look back on the history of black head coaches being given chances to coach NBA teams, both in the past - and more recently.

Only then, can one begin to possibly gage what opportunities for black head coaches may lay ahead in the near future.

Since the legendary Bill Russell took over the Celtics in Nov.,1966, there have been just 58 African-American head coaches in the NBA. While four of them won championships, prior to Rivers joining the elite group, including Russell (1968, 1969), Al Attles (1975), Lenny Wilkens (1979) and K.C. Jones (1984, 1986), I believe it's fairly obvious that African-American coaches have also been deprived of head coaching opportunities may times over and still are today.

I mean, to even suggest that there have been just 56 black men qualified to be head coaches in the NBA since 1966 would be almost as ludicrous as believing there are only 22 black men in the country qualified to be sports columnists at daily publications.

In closing, let me just say that I think it is a travesty - and incomprehensible - how few national media sports outlets focused on the subject of Rivers' rare accomplishment.

While most national sports columnists have blatantly failed to acknowledge the immense accomplishment of one, Gen 'Doc' Rivers becoming just the fifth African-American head coach in NBA history to win lead his team to an NBA championship - and the first in 22 long years - I haven't - and I say kudos Doc, kudos.