While the University of Maryland's football season is likely to be scoreless following the Big Ten's decision to suspend gameplay amid the coronavirus pandemic, head coach Mike Locksley is still putting in work off the field in an initiative to bring more minority coaches to the next level in their careers.
Locksley, one of just 13 minority head coaches in the NCAA's top 65 football programs, started the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches that aims to help elevate qualified coaches on all levels, including youth programs.
"We have so many qualified minority candidates that have trained their entire careers for these opportunities and what the coalition wants to do is, the three pillars of it is: to prepare, promote, and produce the next level of coaches, or head coaches," Locksley told Cheddar.
The NCMFC's board of directors, according to Locksley, is made of football professionals, including executives and both former and current coaches. Some notable members of the coalition include the University of Alabama's Nick Saban and Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin.
Among the obstacles that minority coaches face in leveling up their careers, Locksley said, is that they are not afforded the same opportunities as their counterparts.
"When we formed the coalition, our goal was to try to create [opportunities] and remove some of the roadblocks that we haven't been able to overcome with just being able to have the opportunity to get these jobs," he noted.
The idea behind the coalition is to provide a "viable list of candidates" to leagues that, with the backing of the coalition and its connections, are inclined to be interviewed and assessed.
While the NFL has established the Rooney Rule, a mandate that requires each team to interview minority candidates, the NCAA does not have a similar guideline in place.
For Locksley, the grind of preparing for battle on the gridiron translates to his fight for success in helping elevate more minority coaches. Slow and steady wins the race, according to the coach.
"There's a process that goes into winning and for me, that's what the coalition's job to do is: to focus on the process of one, removing roadblocks, two, creating the awareness that we do have qualified individuals that are minorities that can do the job," he stated.
Following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling year that cleared the way for sports gambling, fans in seven states can bet on the upcoming Super Bowl for the first time ー and leaders in the budding industry are anticipating the Big Game will deliver their biggest day yet. “We expect the Super Bowl to be our single biggest day in the company’s history,” Mike Raffensperger, the chief marketing officer for betting platform FanDuel, told Cheddar.
FightCamp is a new fitness company that streams boxing classes from top instructors direct to consumers. The classes can be tailored to the needs of boxers at all levels of expertise ー from newbies to punching pros said co-founder Tommy Duquette.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Jan. 25, 2019.
The New York Knicks and its jersey sponsor, the website-building platform Squarespace, are doling out assists to four local businesses as part of the second annual "Make It Awards." "Partnering with Squarespace to help those entrepreneurs get their businesses to the next level was something we were very interested in doing and it's been a major hit," said MSG Sports' senior vice president of business operations, Kristin Bernert, in an interview on Cheddar.
The Delaware Blue Coats will make their debut Wednesday night at the brand new Philadelphia 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del., and the team will share the spotlight with an arena that boasts five stories, can seat 2,500 fans, and includes three NBA-regulation basketball courts. The flashy new arena was designed to promote youth sports in the state of Delaware and the greater Philadelphia region. "It's all geared towards youth," Chris Heck, the president of the Philadelphia 76ers, told Cheddar.
The NBA is transparent about its approval of legalized, regulated sports betting ー but the league is also clearly communicating that it wants a fair share of the money wagered on its games. "It's our view that if state governments are going to be authorizing private entities, in most cases casinos, to generate significant revenue ー billions of dollars of revenue ー off of the NBA competitions, that the NBA participate in some way," said the NBA's head of fantasy and gaming Scott Kaufman-Ross.
Former Green Bay Packer Ahman Green is a four time Pro Bowler, but he's also an avid gamer. When it comes to Halo he's just another fan that looks up to professionals like Proximitty and LethuL for help with his improving his skills.
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If there's one person aside from the 800,000 unpaid federal workers who is hoping the government shutdown ends soon, it's Keisha Lance Bottoms. The mayor of Atlanta is less than two weeks away from hosting Super Bowl LIII, which is a logistical and security nightmare even when the city's airport *isn't* being slowed down by mass TSA sick-outs. "I'm extremely concerned," Bottoms said of the possibility that the shutdown may continue through Super Bowl weekend.
Cloud9 has been dubbed the most valuable esports company in the world by Forbes Magazine ー a title that is thanks, at least in part, to the organization's powerhouse VP of marketing, Eunice Chen. Chen is an esports vet who has worked for industry stalwart Riot Games and even runs her own tournament production company, Heroeshype. In an interview with Cheddar Sports, she said, "there are always different ways we can break into new markets in esports and beyond."
