<table> </table> Richard Lapchick is saddened.</p><p>When Kansas State fired Ron Prince, the number of black Division I-A coaches dwindled to four, the lowest total in 15 years. And while that wasn&#8217;t the only statistic that Lapchick, the founder and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, found disturbing in a report his organization released Thursday, it was the one that resonated most.</p><p>A colleague of Lapchick&#8217;s took a job at K-State and was introduced to tornadoes in the harshest way possible &#8212; his house was obliterated in June. Within a few hours, though, Lapchick&#8217;s friend said Prince and his Wildcats were out in the streets, helping to clean up.</p><p>Since then, he&#8217;d rooted for Prince.</p><p>&#8220;I thought he was doing well,&#8221; Lapchick said. &#8220;I&#8217;d seen some of the blowout scores, but &#8230; to me, the record, usually it takes a significantly worse record to get someone bounced.&#8221;</p><p>Prince, who will finish the season with the Wildcats, is 16-18.</p><p>&#8220;It is a decision that we arrived at that&#8217;s in the best interest of the institution and the program,&#8221; K-State athletic director Bob Krause said Wednesday. &#8220;I think all along I&#8217;ve looked at understanding that we are in a performance-based profession.&#8221;</p><p>Floyd Keith, the executive director of the Black Coaches Association, was still waiting to speak with Prince in order to reach an informed conclusion, but he was obviously dismayed.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m surprised someone would get an extension four months ago and not let the situation play out,&#8221; Keith said. &#8220;I was really shocked to hear that.&#8221;</p><p>The BCA is about to release its annual report card, which will be altered not only by this development with Prince but also by Krause&#8217;s role.</p><p>&#8220;Today, you&#8217;re not given much time,&#8221; Keith said. &#8220;I&#8217;d like to see how it pans out to the rest of the dismissals, especially at the BCS level. Is it the same? If the playing level is the same, I understand. But if it&#8217;s not &#8230; You get a new contract and you&#8217;re out?</p><p>&#8220;There must be a lot of money out there.&#8221;</p><p>According to Lapchick&#8217;s report, 91 percent of university presidents and athletic directors are white. Fifty-five percent of all student-athletes are black. And now, the percentage of black head coaches is 3.4 percent &#8212; only Miami&#8217;s Randy Shannon, Mississippi State&#8217;s Sylvester Croom, Buffalo&#8217;s Turner Gill and Houston&#8217;s Kevin Sumlin are set to finish the season.</p><p>Neither Lapchick nor Keith is suggesting Prince&#8217;s dismissal was racially motivated. But Lapchick, who lauds the athletic directors who have hired coaches of color, suggests it might have &#8220;racial consequences,&#8221; which means when the next opening arises, the same considerations might not be used.</p><p>Lapchick notes that a school that hired a black coach has never hired another black coach.</p><p>&#8220;We want (universities) to bring the best people into the room and hire the best person, especially now having a black president,&#8221; Lapchick said. &#8220;Our country decided we wanted to find the best person to lead our country.&#8221;</p><p>In that regard, he&#8217;s pushing for the &#8220;Eddie Robinson Rule,&#8221; which would be the college equivalent of the NFL&#8217;s &#8220;Rooney Rule,&#8221; which punishes teams that fail to interview at least one minority candidate for any head coaching vacancy. Lapchick believes the same practice should apply at the collegiate level, although the NCAA can&#8217;t impose such a clause.