About five years ago, when David Cox was coaching with the DC Assault AAU program, he attended a tournament in Los Angeles and spoke with someone he described as an influential basketball person with “very, very strong NBA contacts.”
When Cox informed the man that he planned on one day becoming a head college basketball coach, the man, who was white, asked Cox, who is black, “What would you describe yourself as? An X’s-and-O’s guy, or just a recruiter?”
Before Cox could get an answer out, the man said sharply, “Please don’t tell me you think you’re both.”
Cox said the implication was immediately clear: Because he is black, the perception was that he couldn’t handle both aspects of coaching.
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