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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/gaysmeag0l_ on 2023-11-14 05:22:38.
While there have been an increasing number of Black head coaches in the FBS since Willie Jeffries became the first Black FBS head coach in 1979, there has never before been a top 10 matchup between two Black FBS head coaches. James Franklin famously became Penn States first Black head coach in 2014; Sherrone Moore was named Acting Head Coach of Michigan about twelve hours prior to kick-off. Offensive Coordinator Sherrone Moore became the second Black Acting Head Coach of Michigan Football when he stepped in for Jim Harbaugh–who was serving a self-imposed suspension related to alleged NCAA rule violations–against Bowling Green State University. The first Black Acting Head Coach of Michigan football was Mike Hart, currently the running backs coach, who also holds the Michigan school record for most career yards. Of course, at the time of the match up between Franklin’s Nittany Lions and Moore’s Wolverines, Michigan was ranked 3rd in the nation, and Penn State was ranked 10th (via CFP).
To produce this post, I cross-referenced this excellent history of Black head coaching and athletic director hires from ESPN () with Wikipedia articles stating the coaches’ records, then navigating into their season and seeing how high they ranked. If they coached in a top ten match-up, I then examined who the opposing team’s head coach was. AP polls were favored because Wikipedia generally uses AP rankings. With this method, I concluded, with about 85% certainty (nb: I made that number up), that this is the first top-ten FBS match-up between two teams led by Black head coaches. Because the article ends in 2021, I also looked at active Black head coaches and those Black head coaches who were hired in the past year or so. None of this information contradicted my findings. Please peer review and correct me if I am wrong. Thank you for reading.