White people still dominate key leadership positions in college athletics, and opportunities for coaches of color in sports other than basketball remain poor, according to a new report on race and gender in college sports.
Even in the NCAA’s Division I men’s basketball, the percentage of head-coach positions held by African-Americans has dropped. In 2008, 23 percent of head coaches were African-American, the report says, down two percentage points from the all-time high of 25 percent, in 2006.
“The 2008 Racial and Gender Report Card: College Sport,” as it is called, was released this morning by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. The organization, based at the University of Central Florida, releases similar reports on the NBA, the WNBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.
In all, the report gave college sports a grade of C-plus for hiring in race and gender.
“This report documents not only a lack of overall progress in college sport but a decline in both racial and gender hiring practices in key positions,” Richard Lapchick, director of the institute, said in a written statement. “The numbers reflect a need for new strategies for more opportunities for people of color and women.
“This is the worst report card for college sport in many years,” he said.
Mr. Lapchick and his colleagues found that white people hold 88 to 97 percent of high-level positions in all three NCAA divisions. That includes college presidents, conference commissioners, athletics directors, head coaches, and faculty athletics representatives.
At the NCAA’s headquarters, there was a slight drop, about one point each, in the percentage of top-level positions held by women and people of color, the report says, because of an increase in the number of individuals holding executive positions. But the NCAA received a grade of A for its hiring practices; currently, three people of color and four women hold jobs as vice presidents or chiefs of staff.
The full report will be available today on the institute’s Web site. In the meantime it can also be found here. —Libby Sander
