The fellow replied, "I expect you can have him back in a couple of years." When told that we liked Coach Smith and were sorry to see him go, the Wildcat fan implied (without saying) that race was the reason he did not expect Tubby to last in Lexington.

That, of course, is an anecdote expressing the attitude of one Kentucky fan, so we cannot know how representative it is, but I never heard a Georgia fan say anything of the sort about Tubby Smith, Dennis Felton, or Damon Evans.

In the Kentucky case, though, I think the real issue was the fan base's rabid and unrealistic expectation level. Does anyone doubt that they'll run off Billy Gillispie in five or six years?

In 1997, a lot of moviegoers were upset that Leonardo DiCaprio didn't get nominated for an Oscar for "Titanic." Nominating him, though, would have meant displacing one of the other nominees from a field that included Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Duvall, and Peter Fonda. You can't just say Leo was deserving; you have to show why he was more deserving that one of those other guys.

I cited two examples where the imputation of racism was reasonable: Sylvester Croom at Alabama and Doug Williams at Kentucky.

Cite me other instances. If the athletic directors at Arkansas, Kentucky, and Ole Miss made racially-motivated hires, please identify the specific victims. Let's not deal in statistical abstractions. Who should have gotten those jobs but didn't?

You also make a very good point that being good at one aspect of a sport doesn't necessarily make you good at any other aspect of the sport. Good players can make bad coaches and bad players can make good coaches. (In fact, I suspect that most good quarterbacks coaches spent more time holding a clipboard than taking snaps under center.)

I don't follow basketball closely enough to be able to state for certain that this applies in basketball, as well, but one reason elite players so seldom advance in the football coaching ranks is that the avenue of entry into college coaching is through a graduate assistantship. An elite player who enters the N.F.L. draft after his junior year departs without receiving his baccalaureate degree and, hence, will not end up as a graduate assistant . . . for the very good reason that he is playing professional football.

I don't know whether a graduate assistantship also is the avenue into college basketball coaching, but, if it is, that might explain why so few elite players become coaches. When players go to the N.B.A. after their junior, sophomore, or freshman years, or when they go straight from high school, they foreclose that option.

All of which is to say, race still is an issue in this country to a greater degree than it ought to be, but human motivations are mixed and the variables in play are myriad. Knee-jerk accusations of racism based solely upon surface appearances are unjustified and they undercut the honest efforts of concerned citizens to address real problems in the instances in which they actually occur.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, peacedog. They were greatly appreciated.

Although sources within the athletic administration of a particular university will not divulge internal matters regarding their coaching searches, it's always pretty well known (or, at least, knowable) who was interviewed. The local press almost always covers coaching searches comprehensively, particularly for high-profile jobs like the basketball coaching positions at Arkansas and (especially) Kentucky.

I'm always interested in looking at which candidates expressed interest and which candidates got interviewed when evaluating the quality of a hire.

While Sylvester Croom has not produced good records at Mississippi State, he also inherited a lousy situation, as M.S.U. was hampered by N.C.A.A. sanctions, a poor location, little history of winning football, and a less than optimal local talent base. I think M.S.U. has to give Coach Croom at least five years to overcome the handicaps with which he was saddled.

Even if he turns out not to be a good college head coach, however, Sylvester Croom brought a more impressive resume to the table than Mike Shula. Coach Croom was more experienced and, while Coach Shula played for Ray Perkins, Coach Croom played for the Bear, which makes a difference in Alabama.

Given their respective resumes, it's hard to explain Mike Shula's hiring on any grounds other than race.

That's why I want to hear names, not numbers. We cannot simultaneously say that there is no "right" number of head coaches from each particular minority group but that the low percentage of head coaches from particular minority groups tells us what we need to know.

What other candidates expressed interest in the Kentucky job? How did their resumes compare to Billy Gillispie's? It is entirely possible that a better candidate was turned away for an illegitimate reason . . . but, so far, I have not been given that man's name.

Until I am told that man's name and his credentials, I'm with you, Charley. Thanks for chiming in with your thoughts.

In addition, I believe NCT indicated that Georgia had its share of such fans, as well, and I believe I made it clear that I thought a reason other than race explained Kentucky's recent coaching change. Indeed, the thrust of my posting was that charges of racism ought not to be made unless they can be backed up by evidence.

No one seriously doubts that racism exists in the world (and, as Patterson Hood says, it has existed in all times and places, even though it most often is portrayed with a Southern accent). I suspect that there is a segment of every fan base in every part of the country that would object to the hiring of a coach who belonged to an ethnic minority and I did not mean to single out Kentucky's fan base for special disdain.

The real question, of course, concerns the people who are doing the hiring and firing, not the rank and file fans. Whatever particular Georgia fans may think upon the subject of race, the Bulldogs have hired two black basketball coaches and a black athletic director without so much as a significant undercurrent of dissatisfaction on any overtly or covertly racial basis.

I cannot say whether the same is true of Kentucky, although I am interested in hearing your take on the motivations behind Tubby Smith's effective ouster and on the qualifications of the candidates (other than Billy Donovan) whose names were put forward as possible replacements.

In any case, Tru, I thank you for stopping by and I hope you will comment again upon this and other issues.