Stephen A. Smith has for years defended and campaigned for the promotion to NFL head coach of Eric Bieniemy. And we have for years suggested that Smith was in over his depth, because he had no real research or insight to back up his claim that Bieniemy was being treated unfairly because he's a Black assistant coach.
Now, in a shocking turn, ESPN lead personality Smith is taking a wildly contrarian stance, announcing that he's "done defending Eric Bieniemy.''
"How in the hell is he not a head coach?'' Smith said. "Ladies and gentlemen, I've spent years lamenting the same thing ... as it pertains to Black coaches. I've spent years coming to the defense of Eric Bieniemy.
"Not anymore. Can't do it anymore.''
Bieniemy is the former Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders offensive coordinator who is heading to UCLA to become its coordinator. That move comes in part because once again Bieniemy was passed over for a head coaching job in the NFL.
It occurred to many of us over the course of this process that maybe Smith's assertions of blatant racism against Bieniemy were exaggerated ... that is was possible, for instance, that he interviews poorly.
And now, it seems, that possibility is just now occurring to Stephen A. Smith - and so he's putting Bieniemy on blast.
"Other Blacks have been hired, but not you,'' Smith said. "At some point in time, it has to be you.''
But wait. It was just three weeks ago when Smith essentially accused the Commanders of racism for the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury as Bieniemy's replacement.
"From a historical perspective, we look at a guy like Kliff Kingsbury and you know what we see as black folks? This is the kind of stuff that don't happen for black folks," Smith said on ESPN.
So ... which uninformed take is it going to be? The one that is most incendiary? Most contrarian? Does Stephen A. Smith really know the people he's discussing here? Does he even know anything at all about the people he's dissecting here?
Does this suddenly make Smith an expert on the subject of NFL hiring people of color? Not exactly. If you wish to, listen to what Smith said about this most recent hiring cycle that included head coaching promotions for Raheem Morris (Falcons), Jerod Mayo, Antonio Pierce and Dave Canales (Panthers) ...
And notice how as he cites the names of those four new bosses, he mispronounces three of them - which forces us to suggest that if someone is going to pontificate about a subject while insisting he has expertise in the matter and then use the loudest voice in sports media to champion a cause ...
He ought to at least be able to pronounce the names of the people who are the subject of his expertise.
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