Racism may end up being the unintended consequence from a perception standpoint. So, I don't believe that JC's termination had a single thing to do with his race. Am fairly convinced that nepotism, if this definition extends to friends or colleagues, was the cause. The CFO came from Miami, wanted Caputo, we wasted money on a national search firm, and then Caputo was hired.
But to the outside world who might be paying attention:
a) Hobbs was released after his final two seasons were appreciably better than his two preceding seasons. Even though these last two teams paled greatly in comparison to KH's best seasons, one can argue that KH was fired as he was in the process of turning the program back in the right direction.
b) MoJo's interim season was good enough that the school (really, Nero) extended his contract and removed the interim tag, an indication that the school was putting its faith in MoJo over the long term.. MoJo was eventually fired, after Nero was gone, with either 2 or 3 years remaining on his contract.
c) JC arrived with a five year contract only to be fired after Year 3. His player turnover was substantial but nevertheless, he hadn't received the opportunity of turning a full recruiting class (4 years), a fairly standard guideline. Plus, a case could be made that the team was making progress under JC, with most key players scheduled to return in 2022-23.
I don't believe that any of these coaches were relieved of their duties due to any racist concerns or views. However, the school can not control what the perception might be among the black community. The reality is that firing a coach with multiple years remaining on his contract is a terrible look. The early returns (and they are early) is that we haven't attracted many players to play here yet despite an inordinate amount of playing time to offer. Plus, the coaching staff has not come together as quickly as many would hope. All of this may have absolutely nothing to do with racist concerns, or it may have quite a lot to do with this. I can only hope this (racist concerns) is not the case.