Just Trying to Win

Glory Road is the title of the autobiography of Din Haskins, Hall of Fame coach of Texas Western College (now UTEP).  It is the story of how his Texas Western team ran through the NCAA tournament with three black starters, then unheard of, and met all-time great Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats in the national championship game.

Except when they got to that game, they changed their game completely.  If you saw the movie, it seemed unfair.  This was a team that certainly used black players more than other schools, but at the same time they did have a few white starters and white contributors.  I watch the scene where Coach Haskins tells the white players that not only will they not start the game, but that they will not play a minute in the championship.

Immediately, I feel like that is a rotten thing.  He can say whatever he wants, but it seems like he is trying to make a statement.  It becomes more than the game, and I believe that for kids who want to win, it should not be about more than the game.  The white players started and played all year, and are portrayed as very good players.  It feels like their moment is being stolen from them.

What we are not told is the stats.  The four white players, and one hispanic player, combined to average 6.2 points per game for the season.  That's right.  Five players, six points.  The seven black players together averaged over 75 points per game.  The black player with the fewest points averaged more than the five non-black players combined.

Those five players also hit shots and a significantly lower percentage than their black teammates.  We do not see those stats in the movie.  Coach Haskins in real life always says he just wanted to put his best players on the court in the championship game, and for the people who only saw the movie, it sounds like a farce.  It sounds like he is trying to make history.

He wasn't.  His best players were on the court.  That is how you win the game, and that is what any winning coach would have done, whether history was on the line or not.