The scene was set. The show had been hyped for weeks. Kellen Winslow Jr., son of the NFL Hall of Fame tight end with the same name, was to announce on Fox Sports where he would play his college football.

In a room to the side of the show's set, Kellen Jr., with letter-of-intent in hand, anxiously waited to tell everyone he was going to Washington. He wanted to be a Husky. He wanted to play for coach Rick Neuheisel's defending Rose Bowl champions.

	Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow Sr., right, wasn't afraid to make race an issue when it came time for his son to choose a college.

But then dad stepped in. He had some questions for his son. They began with "Why Washington?" and ended with "Why not Michigan State?" Included were inquiries about coaches, schemes, weather and race.

Yes, race.

Dad wanted to make sure that -- all things being equal -- the younger Winslow considered a school where minorities were in positions of authority, be it on the coaching staff or in the athletics department.

He didn't think his son had taken a good look at Michigan State, with coach Bobby Williams and athletics director Clarence Underwood. Both are African-American.

He also liked the opportunities for his son at the University of Miami, under highly regarded receivers coach Charles Johnson, who is also an African-American. He figured that his son, who caught 45 passes for 800 yards and nine touchdowns his senior season at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego, would thrive under Johnson's no-nonsense style.

So with a national television audience waiting, Kellen Sr. announced the family needed more time to think the decision over. He needed more time to talk with his son.

"I told him, 'Kellen, I don't feel comfortable. If I'm being a bad father by telling you this before you're supposed to go on national television, so be it. But I don't feel comfortable.' "

In Husky land, the controversial minority issue turned heads, where Washington boasts of its diversity, including an athletics director who is female and a pair of assistant coaches who are black.

But elsewhere, few paid much attention. The story went relatively unnoticed nationally, its social significance buried in the tiny transactions section of the daily sports page.

But like it or not, Kellen Sr. was taking a stand -- an important one. It was similar to his 1995 Hall of Fame induction speech, when he turned heads by blasting the NFL for its lack of minority hirings.

To put it simply: The lack of minority hirings in college and pro sports is embarrassing. And if more student-athletes considered schools where minorities are in positions of power, it could begin to change the tide.

"Kellen is lucky that he's had a father that's been through all this and is the ultimate expert on the topic," said Bob Minnix, president of the Black Coaches Association. "The typical minority kid doesn't have a father like that to help him realize those things. It's just a question that doesn't come up that often."

Still, the moment the Fox spot was canceled, rumors began to swirl. Some critics suggested Kellen Sr. was taking advantage of his son for his own political gain. Others said he held a grudge because Neuheisel was a replacement player during the 1987 NFL strike. Yet others suggested the Winslows were concerned Neuheisel would soon leave for the NFL.

But the facts were much to the contrary. Kellen Sr. was acting like any other father -- making sure his son was thorough in his search for a college. After all, Kellen Jr. has said he wants to be a coach when his playing days are over. And as his dad put it, 'You should play at a place that is going to give you the best opportunity to someday be a coach.' "

Hence the race issue.

"What type of father would I be, to know what I know, to go what I've gone through and not discuss these things with my child?" he said. "I'd be the worst father in the world. Race is an important issue in this country and you're almost burying your head in the sand if you don't talk to your children about it. It's denial."

The drastic turn of events, in which Winslow Jr. went from signed, sealed and delivered to Washington to undecided virtually overnight stunned many people, including John King, Kellen Jr.'s basketball coach and a football assistant at Scripps Ranch.

"I was as shocked as anybody," King said. "I thought he was going to Washington for sure."

King ended practice early that night so his team could make it home in time to watch Winslow on TV. Later, he said he could sense the pain in his star forward when an already trying recruiting period was prolonged.

"I felt bad,"he said. "You could just tell that he was hurting. He was exhausted and tired from the whole process, he had a bad game that week and then this."

The tug-of-war between father and son lasted until Feb. 15, one week after signing day, when the two agreed on Miami. But the path that led to that decision was anything but easy, depending on whom is asked.

A matter of choice

Kellen Winslow Jr., challenged by his father to consider race when choosing a college, eventually settled on the University of Miami. Not because of the color of football coach Larry Coker, who is white, but in part because Coker has four minority assistants on his coaching staff. Coker said it was a simple matter of coincidence. He said he never set out to hire minorities for the sake of diversity, but instead chose the candidates the coaches he felt were most qualified for the job. "Was it important to me when I hired my staff? No, it really wasn't," Coker said. "The fact that three position coaches are African-American, those are the three I wanted. Race wasn't a factor. "But with that, I would never hire a staff of nine white coaches. You want to be racially mixed for sure. So it can be somewhat of a factor. But this time it just worked out that way." Kellen Winslow Jr., a highly regarded receiver at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego, was recruited by Washington, Michigan State and Miami, among others. He picked Miami, his father said, because of one assistant coach in particular, receivers coach Charles Johnson, who is African-American. Johnson is one of four assistant coaches on Cokers staff who are minorities. In addition, defensive coordinator Randy Shannon, linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves and strength and conditioning coach Andrew Swasey are all African-American When told of Kellen Winslow Sr.'s suggestion that more recruits should consider race among many factors when selecting a college, Coker agreed that it could be effective in opening more doors for minority coaches. "Just like anything else, it could be a subtle pressure that would cause people to think," said Coker, who became a head coach after 22 years as an assistant. "It certainly might have an effect that way." -- Wayne Drehs

Though numerous attempts to reach Kellen Jr. through his father for this story were unsuccessful, a source close to Neuheisel said Kellen Jr. told a Washington assistant that his father's interventions were "so much of a distraction" in his decision.

But since a parent or legal guardian must sign all national letters of intent when a recruit is younger than 18 years old, Kellen Jr., no matter that he is 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, couldn't proceed without his father's permission.

"Kellen Jr. just wanted to sign. He wanted it over with," King said. "But as an educated parent, Kellen Sr. saw that a lot of recruiting was 'Hurry up, hurry up, you've got to make your decision today.' And Kellen Sr. said, 'Wait a minute. We don't have to do anything today.' He wanted to wait until they were both comfortable."

So the search continued -- with more research, more phone calls and more conversations between father and son.

When Kellen Jr. mentioned he liked Washington because he had a fun recruiting trip there, his father countered, "You had a fun time when we went to Jamaica, too, but that doesn't mean you're going to go there for college."

When dad mentioned Williams and Edwards as leading minorities at Michigan State, son pointed out Johnson at Miami.

When Jr. added that Michigan State was 5-6 last season, while Washington finished 11-1, Sr. suggested that the Spartans are a young team on their way up, while Washington had graduated a boatload of seniors, including its quarterback.

The ideas and rebuttals went back and forth until Miami, a team that Winslow Jr. had privately liked since a January visit, was the choice.

"When he came back in January, he told me that's where he wanted to go, but I told him not to tell anybody that and to keep it close to the vest," Kellen Sr. said. "But then Butch left."

But Larry Coker, who replaced Butch Davis after he left Miami for the Cleveland Browns, maintained a strong relationship with the Winslows.

"We never felt like he was ours, but we always felt we had a chance," Coker said. "So until they called us to tell us he wasn't coming, we stayed positive."

The fact that Coker also retained many of Davis' assistants, including Johnson, also scored big points.

"CJ is an old-school coach that takes nothing from his players," Kellen Sr. said. "He's a guy who will chastise them, love them, and they will respond."

Much the way King believes Kellen Sr. has raised his son. King, who said he has maintained a close relationship with both Winslows over the years, is often one of the first to stand up for the sometimes criticized actions of Kellen Sr.

"Everybody talks about Kellen this and Kellen that, and how he did this or did that," King said. "But Kellen Jr. is lucky to have the Dad he has. He's an all-pro parent that has done a hell of a job with an incredible kid."

And in Kellen Sr.'s eyes, that's all he was trying to do through this entire process -- be a great a father.

"What I did I did mostly as a father concerned for his son. My motive behind it was to keep him from looking at things through rose-colored glasses. It was a lesson in more than football. It was a lesson in life."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.