"Sounds like it was written by a young intern": NCAAB fans furious with ESPN's graphic about black coaches in the ACC

NCAA basketball fans are furious over ESPN's infographic about the current African-American coaches in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Reddit College Basketball re-posted the ESPN graphic that listed the ACC coaches of African-American lineage. However, fans were incensed by the wording used in the selection: "ACC HEAD COACHES WHO HAPPEN TO BE BLACK."

One user roasted the writer of the graphic and assumed that a young intern made the content in the video.

"Sounds like it was written by a young intern."

Another slammed the failure of the ESPN editors to make the infographic effective.

"But graphics do not have the context of a conversation attached to them and need to be treated as such, so this is a massive L."

Another lashed out on the sports network, saying that it has simply killed "journalism" in "sports journalism."

"ESPN has been a joke for the past 10 years. They seem to have almost single handedly taken the “journalism” out of “sports journalism”

One reckons ESPN is racist and out to erase the conference:

"So what I'm taking from this is that ESPN is racist for trying to kill the ACC."

Another had a different view on the matter, taking a positive outlook:

"They're trying to say that the head coaches weren't hired because they're black. They're qualified hires who just happen to be black. It's a clunky way to make the point, but the thought isn't that bad."

Fans also referenced American comedian George Carlin:

"Well the George Carlin bit is about real people saying that right?," a Reddit user asked.

"Somewhere George Carlin is chuckling to himself," said another.

Another reacted on how tiring the issue is for mixed races but acknowledged that the graphic talked about the progress of African-American basketball coaching in the NCAA:

"Perhaps. I imagine they wanted to highlight the progress as well in which case your can't ignore race. I agree - I'm over the weird politically correct tip toeing. All this race stuff is taxing on us mixed folks."

On X (formerly Twitter), users had mixed reactions to a similar graphic posted by Awful Announcing. with one saying that race is irrelevant in hiring a coach in college basketball.

Others vented their ire on ESPN for pulling off an infographic that has generated negative responses on social media.

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African-American coaches in the ACC

Coach Damon Stoudamire of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

According to the ESPN graphic, nine African-American coaches are leading ACC basketball programs.

They are Jeff Capel of Pittsburgh, Kenny Payne (Louisville), Hubert Davis (North Carolina), Earl Grant (Boston College), Adrian Autry (Syracuse), Damon Stoudamire (Georgia Tech), Micah Shrewsberry (Notre Dame), Kevin Keatts (North Carolina State) and Leonard Hamilton (Florida State).

It speaks highly of how US colleges and universities prioritize diversity and equal opportunity. Davis came in three points short of being the fifth African-American coach to win an NCAA championship in 2023.

He could have followed John Thompson (Georgetown), Nolan Richardson (Arkansas), Tubby Smith (Kentucky) and Kevin Ollie (Connecticut). Ollie was the last coach to win the NCAA title in 2014 and who knows someone from the ACC would repeat after 10 years.