Sports
Thomas Hammock’s Victory Over Notre Dame Is a Statement on Equal Opportunity

In the second week of my seek for the primary black coach to win a national championship in college football, I used to be caught off guard by a surprising message from Thomas Hammock of Northern Illinois University.
NIU defeat Fifth-ranked Notre Dame, coached by Marcus Freeman, certainly one of the few black coaches at schools with the resources, schedule and conference affiliations to usually compete for a national title. Michigan’s Sherrone Moore and Penn State’s James Franklin also make the list. Black coaches at UCLA, Purdue and Maryland all have a possible path, in some unspecified time in the future, to winning the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. And you never know what might occur in the longer term with Deion Sanders coaching at Colorado (for now).
But Hammock? In the Mid-American Conference? Who a few years ago thought he’d never get a likelihood to be a head coach?
Northern Illinois still has a slim likelihood of creating the playoffs, let alone winning all of it. But no matter where the Huskies find yourself, Hammock made a huge statement about equal opportunity, and his uninhibited tears after defeating the Irish in South Bend, Indiana, showed that college football still has heart and a higher purpose amongst all greed AND destroyed traditions.
Tracing the “first black” people could be tiresome—some would argue that President Barack Obama has rendered the topic moot—but I believe we’d like to proceed to look at the arenas where black people have been denied equal opportunity to succeed. Only 16 of 134 trainers in the very best league of faculty football there are black people, while greater than half of the players are black.
The indisputable fact that no black coach has won a national championship in college football means various things to different people. I asked Hammock: What does that mean to you?
“As a player, it motivates me,” he said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “It should motivate all the black coaches who have the opportunity (to be starters). It’s something we should strive for.”
Some black coaches simply want to educate without the added burden or pressure of being liable for the progress of black people normally. That in itself is a measure of equality, as white coaches are generally free from racial expectations.
Hammock is just not certainly one of those coaches.
“Of course, I want other black coaches to have the opportunities that I have,” he said. “I want to represent black coaches in the right way and make sure that I can help provide more guys with opportunities. And I think it’s important for all of us to do the right things, do the right thing and put our teams in a position to win so that others behind us have a chance to become the first black coach to win a national championship.”
Hammock, who’s 43, could do it himself. That could be tough at NIU, which might need to win the MAC and be ranked higher than the winners of Conference USA, the American Athletic Conference, the Mountain West and the Sun Belt to make the playoffs. Then NIU would need to undergo a bracket with star programs with greater budgets and dearer talent. Northern Illinois has only one former player on the NFL roster for 2024; Michigan, for instance, has 41.
But Hammock clearly has the flexibility to educate. If he keeps winning, other job offers could come his way — which could be ironic, considering he almost didn’t get the possibility to educate.
Hammock played running back at NIU, with two 1,000-yard seasons and two Academic All-American honors. In the primary game of his senior 12 months, he rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns in a surprising win over Wake Forest — then was diagnosed with a heart condition that ended his profession.
“I never wanted to be a coach. I never wanted to coach people like me. I was a jerk in college,” Hammock said. “But when the game is taken away from you, you realize how much you love it, you realize how much the team spirit is a part of your life, and I wanted the opportunity to get back into the game.”

Michael Caterina/AP Photo
Hammock went to Wisconsin as a graduate assistant, where he was mentored by the quarterbacks coach. Henry MasonAfter stints at NIU, Minnesota and Wisconsin again, he moved to the NFL in 2014 to educate running backs for the Baltimore Ravens. He was also mentored by Eric Bieniemy, who’s Exhibit A for black coaches who were never given the chance to change into head coaches that similarly talented white coaches got.
Hammock desired to change into a college coach but was unable to get an interview, even within the lower league of FCS, Division I college football.
“I really had it in my head to turn it down,” Hammock said. “Just because there are so many more goalies now than there ever were. … It’s just another way to keep you from taking advantage of the opportunity, from getting close to the opportunity, in my opinion. So I thought, you know what? I’m going to be an NFL assistant.”
Then the job opened up at NIU. Historically, the predominant reason black coaches were excluded from consideration was because they weren’t a part of the predominantly white network of faculty presidents and athletic directors. In all walks of life, people are inclined to hire people they know. But NIU athletic director Sean Frazier happened to work with Hammock at Wisconsin. And Frazier was black.
Hammock landed his dream job and embraced his old coaching mentality, prioritizing relationships, learning and private growth over the brand new, transactional nature of faculty football.
“I never wanted to coach people like me. I was a jerk in college. But when the game is taken away from you, you realize how much you love it, you realize how much the team spirit is a part of your life, and I wanted the opportunity to get back into the game.”
—Thomas Hammock
“I really grew as a man at NIU and the impact that the coaches had on me and my development as a student, I wanted to have that same impact on others,” Hammock said. “I spent five years in the National Football League. I fully understand what transactional means. But for 18-22-year-old young men, it takes more than that. They’re at a critical point in their lives where they need to grow so they can make great decisions as they become adults, as they become fathers, as they become husbands, as they become productive members of society.”
That could be hard to do in top-tier programs, where players sign with the very best bidder after which bounce from school to highschool. But those programs also provide the perfect opportunity to realize certainly one of the last “first black” milestones in sports.
Is Hammock occupied with taking it to the following level?
“My goal is to make the most of this season, right?” he said. “We just got a big win over Notre Dame. How will we get our players ready for the following game?
“I can’t predict what will happen in the future.”
Sports
Coach San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich leaves the legacy of expressing injustice

Gregg Popovich, the most important coach of San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich, won the highest and maybe the largest coach in NBA history outside the side line. It also disappeared, but actually not forgotten, Popovich used his platform to talk against racial, social and political injustice.
“He was probably one of the first trainers of the modern generation, who really spoke about politics and social injustice,” said coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr, a former guard of Spurs near Popuvich. “One of my favorite trainers is (former basketball coach of men from the University of North Karolina) Dean Smith. Dean Smith in the 1960s. He helped break the racial barriers in the south, refusing to take his team in some places for staying or eating. Coaches who really distinguish me. “
Spurs announced the retirement of Popovich from coaching on May 2 after 33 years as the most important trainer. Naismith Hall of Famer is the NBA leader in the field of coaching victories with 1422 wins in the regular season. The three -time NBA coach led Spurs to 5 championships. The 76-year-old also took third place in winning the playoffs.
Popovich trained the Spurs dynasty, which included the NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014, Hall of Famers David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Future Hall of Famer Kawhi Leonard. With the NBA All-Star Center Victor Wembanyama, in its composition, Popovich trained only five matches this season, after which he suffered a stroke in a team facility on November 2, 2024. He never returned out of bord.
Popovich will remain in Spurs as the president of basketball operations and was replaced by Mitch Johnson, who was a short lived team of the team this season.
“It’s a sad day. It’s also an encouraging day,” said Kerr on May 2. “This is a natural transition for him organizationally to go to the next role. He also gives him space and time that he must regain after health problems.
“So I got a lot of mixed emotions … mainly my love for pop. My empathy for what has gone through with the Spurs organization. All of the above. This is a very emotional day for everyone involved. Thank you, pop.”
Coach Houston Rockets, Ime Udoka, former guard of Spurs and assistant coach near Popowicz, said on May 2: “This is a sweet -bitter day, of course, for all of us. But I am glad that he is in the good place. And I am glad that he is good with his family. A special day. A special person. One of the best for it. I am happy that I have a chance to work with him and call him.”
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Popovich also had an impact on the world, undeniably using his platform to speak about injustice. What made his openness much more unique was that he was a white man who spoke about marginalized individuals who didn’t seem like him.
Former San Antonio Spurs Forward Lamarcus Aldridge once described Popovich as “color blindness” to Andcape. Popovich was also known that he normally had an inventory with international talent.
“When you meet him, color doesn’t matter to him,” Aldridge said about Popovich. “It can refer. People can say that he and Stephen Jackson are really close. Stephen Jackson is the opposite of being from Europe. It doesn’t matter who you are. He connects with all people … He is so open to everything.”
Popovich once expressed respect for the playmaker San Francisco 49ers Colin Kapernicka and his national protest. These were the words of a person who attended the American Air Force Academy and obtained a bachelor’s degree in the field of Soviet studies. He served five years of the required lively service in the Air Force and once considered a profession in the CIA.
“A quite good group of people immediately thought that they did not respect the army,” said Popovich once. “It had nothing to do with his protest. In fact, he was able to do what he did because of what the army was doing for us. Most people think about it, but there will always be an element that wants to jump on fashion and this is unfortunate in our country.”
Popovich once took Spurs to the private screening of the film “Chi-raq” with the famous film director Spike Lee. Popovich had a former John Carlos track star, who joined Tommie Smith to get a controversial salut of black power on the podium medal during the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, confer with his team. Popovich gave his players the book “Between the world and me” by Tahisi Coates, who was written as a letter to the writer’s teenage son about reality, emotions and symbolism of being an African American in the United States. Popovich also took his team for the show “The Birth of the Nation”, the film Parker invested about Nat Turner, who managed the historic riot of slaves in 1831 and see the famous art of “Hamilton” in New York.
“It is obvious that the domestic plane of slavery still penetrates our social system in this country,” said Popovich once. “People want to ignore it, they don’t want to talk about it because it is uncomfortable.”
Popovich also described the race in America as “elephant in peace.” He believed that the White Americans didn’t understand the pain and stress related to being an African American. Popovich remembered listening to the black assistants of trainers about how that they had to confer with children about the best way to cope with the police in the event that they were confronted. He said it was something that as a white man never had in common together with his two children.
“It’s easier for white people because we haven’t experienced this experience. For many white people it is difficult to understand the everyday feeling with which many black people are dealing with,” Popovich once said. “I did not talk to my children about how to behave in front of a policeman when you stop. I did not have to do it. All my black friends did it. There is something that is wrong in it and we all know it.”

Daniel Dunn-Us today sport
Popovich also also talked about what he thinks were injustices in the American government, particularly against President Donald Trump. During October 27, 2024, a press conferencePopovich described Trump as “pathetic” and accused him of supporting the culture of racism and division in America. Popovich also added that he believes that Trump has confirmed racism, which normalized and legitimized discrimination on this process.
Popovich recurrently talked about the control of weapons. In 2023, Popovich gave an unnecessary, nine -minute lobbying lobbying for the laws of weapon control in America and criticizing “cowardly legislators who are selfish” before the match in Dallas. Popovich criticized republican legislators in Texas and Tennessee, and in addition expressed contempt for the expedition of representatives in 2023 Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Chamber of Representatives in Tennessee. Two black democrats were demonstrating weapons control on the floor of the chamber after a shooting in Nashville. Popovich called the provisions on the resistance of weapon control, an try and “clog all these things (in) the myth of the second amendment.”
“I was wondering because we have a governor and governor governor and prosecutor general, who made it easier to have more weapons,” Popovich said, referring to politicians from Texas. “It was a response to the murder of our children. I just thought it was a bit strange decision. But it’s just me.”
So how did Popovich develop into so conscious, caring and vocal?
The son of a Croatian father and Serbian mother organized naturally about other cultures, growing up in a racially diverse eastern Chicago in Indiana, 18 miles from the Chicago center. According to the universal census of the United States of 2010, Eastern Chicago had 42.9% black, 35.5% white and 19.1% of other races. Popovich attributed his military origin for making him aware of the world. He also learned about the world when he played basketball for the American Basketball Team of the Armed Forces in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
“When you meet him and learn about his upbringing and his origin, raised in (suburbs) Gary, Indian, in a multicultural district …”-said Udoka. “He all the time talked about the neighbors he had – an Italian family, a Jewish family, a black family. Everything around him was immigrants and his.
“This is the core of who it is. It is appropriate, regardless of whether you are black, white or different.”
Kerr also spoke about social injustice, racism, violence with weapons and political problems during the training of warriors. He recognized Popovich for uplifting him to make use of his platform to talk.
“I was 100% inspired by pop for the courage to speak and take the hits you do,” said Kerr. “I met POP after I signed a contract with Spurs in 1999 during the blockade. You can see the sacrifice for his country. A proud air force graduate. From the first national anthem (played in the game Spurs) I saw how he stood on an unusual American flut.
“This is a belief together with, say, the Shenanigans of this country politically – in actual fact all BS began at the moment, at the turn of the century … between social media and Buffoners politically, on this era, wherein everyone screams against one another.
Sports
Why America still makes the black fathers of sports villains

In the sports industry value a billion dollars there isn’t any image more quietly threatening to the system than a robust, engaged black father.
We see it time and again.
Lavar Ball is known as boastful.
Deion Sanders is known as selfish.
Richard Williams was crazy long before the world learned the names Venus and Serena.
Lebron James is in some way criticized for being too publicly supporting his son Brony.
Earl Woods was presented as a controlling character, even when he raised one of the biggest golfers he had ever seen.
Cecil Newton Sr. He met with public control simply following his son CAM.
The plan is evident: when the black father stands at the center of his child’s success – leading, protecting, moving away from exploitation – the media paint him as an issue.
As Egomaniak.
As someone “bothers”.
Why?
Because strong black fathers disturb the narrative.
The system is just not only invested in the talent of black athletes – it invests in controlling them.
A young black athlete without suggestions is less complicated to control. Easier to pay. Easier to face against others. Easier to the brand, profit and reject when it’s comfortable.
A powerful black father changes the terms of the contract.
Requires higher contracts.
He asks about coaching decisions.
It protects the mental health of your child from the franchise.
He reminds the world that his son or daughter is just not only an asset – but a human being along with his family, dreams and dignity.
And that is where real fear lies.
The image of a united black family – not broken, absent, not broken – a challenge of deeply rooted stereotypes on which American society has long been about the justification of inequalities.
A powerful black man standing next to his child and says that he is just not perceived as an act of love, but as an act of revolt.
It is less complicated to submit a father than to confess that the system is designed to make use of athletes, while they’re young, sensitive and isolated.
It is less complicated to make fun of yourself than to confront the truth:
Black families who stick together support one another and are fiercely in favor of their very own, are irrefutable, not a threat.

When Deion Sanders tells his sons that they’re kings, not goods, it worries the old order.
When Richard Williams insists that his daughters are larger than tennis, he prescribes the rules.
When Lavar Ball dreams loudly for his sons, he scares a system that prefers black athletes to be grateful and quiet.
But let’s be clear:
It is just not their trust that threatens the sports industry.
It’s their love.
Their refusal to permission to their children used and rejected to the side.
Their impudence is consider that they deserve sitting at the table – and pull up the chair without not asking for permission.
Black fathers in sport should not villains.
They are architects.
They are defenders.
These are a shield between industries value a billion dollars and kids, otherwise they consumed.
Or possibly this can be a real story that America doesn’t wish to tell.

”
)
Sports
Ball Up Top: Lakers, Fakers, Quakers … Wolves in 5

“Ball Up Top” is a weekly NBA video series in which David Dennis Jr. With AndScape he talks about hot topics in the league and popular culture with special guests in addition to personalities and sejds.
In episode 8, David is joined by a senior author Justin Tinsley to debate Los Angeles Lakers, who was rejected from Playoffs and what to do next. In addition, a really exciting opera clip that David cannot stop enthusiastic about.
Episode 8, 2 May 2025
Host: David Dennis Jr.
Guests: Justin Tinsley
Manufacturers: Charles Abankwa, Ryan Cortes, Rodney Davis, Chris Gavin, Charles Peach
Archives
Episode 1 (March 7, 2025): Quentin Richardson on Phoenix Suns, his moment “Welcome to the NBA” and beef with “Nad edge”
Episode 2 (March 14, 2025): Plus/Minus! Nikola Jokic (not) MVP, whose Knicks and Lakers don’t need to see, asks Cooper Flagg
Episode 3 (March 21, 2025): Danny Green evaluates his pretenders to the Western Conference, members of the Abrevocal Team
Episode 4 (March 28, 2025): Talking Heat Culture after the outbreak of warriors, more plus/minus
Episode 5 (April 4, 2025): The most vital games left in the NBA schedule
Episode 6 (April 17, 2025): Kazeem Famuyide talks NBA Playoffs, Wrestlemania 41, Army X
Episode 7 (April 24, 2025): Which NBA Playoffs teams are cooked/not cooked?
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