A wildly unprofessional reporter told Michigan’s head basketball coach Juwan Howard that he’s been “put on the hot seat by the white media” following the Wolverines’ season-ending loss to Penn State on Wednesday night.
“There’s three black coaches in this conference, and throughout the season each one of you has been put on the hot seat by the white media,” Charles Hallman of the Minnesota Spokesman said to Howard.
“I’m hoping that you survive this, because we know black coaches sometimes don’t,” Hallman added.
Who is asking this question.. is this a real media person? pic.twitter.com/kOoyG738fZ
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) March 14, 2024
I can’t get over how grossly unprofessional, shockingly divisive, but most importantly, blatantly wrong this statement is. First of all, as a reporter, it’s not Hallman’s job to share his opinion on why the people he’s covering are facing criticism and then make excuses for said people to their faces. If you want to do that, go start a podcast.
But more importantly, Hallman’s divisive racial rhetoric completely ignores the reality of Howard’s situation. He’s been terrible at Michigan. Howard’s Wolverines have missed the NCAA Tournament in three of his five years as skipper, including the last two seasons consecutively. This year his team has been one of the worst in the league, posting an atrocious 8-24 record. But Hallman is blaming criticisms of him on the white media…
Should I, as a white man, ignore it when a black head coach is performing poorly because he’s black? Isn’t that incredibly demeaning? Doesn’t that imply I should treat the black coaches as inherently more fragile and less able to handle criticism? I don’t know Juwan Howard personally, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what he would want.