The lack of diversity within collegiate athletic leadership continues. As white men cease to dominate in college football, they continue to dominate the positions of leadership in college sport in general and college football in particular.
The representation of women and people of color in leadership positions in major college football does not nearly reflect the number of players of color competing for the school. The 2019 D1 Football Bowl Series (FBS) College Racial and Gender Report Card shows that the lack of diversity within collegiate athletic leadership continues with little change.
Produced by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES), headed by Dr. Richard Lapchick, the FBS Report Card gives a C for racial hiring practices and an F for gender hiring practices in Division 1 FBS, which consists of 130 colleges and universities.
Federal affirmative action policies state the workplace should reflect the percentage of the people in the racial group in the population. The Report Card calculates grades it assigns by comparing the makeup of college leadership with the composition of the general population.
The most recent census indicated that minorities were nearly 35 percent of the general population. But the grading provides a little slack. To get an A for racial hiring, the category now needs to have 30 percent people of color and to get an A for gender hiring, 45 percent is required.
The number of women athletic directors decreased in 2019, while the number of people of color in this position increased. This resulted in a B for racial hiring and an F for gender hiring. Last year 86.2 percent of head coaches were white men, which was a slight increase from 2018. There were 18 (13.8 percent) coaches of color in 2019.
At the start of the 2019 season, the number of African-American head coaches decreased by two to 13 in total (10.0 percent). In these institutions in 2019, African-American men represented only 10 percent of head coaches compared to 48.5 percent of football student-athletes. And it got worse. At the end of the 2019 season, four African American head football coaches were dismissed from their positions.
Last year there were 476 (34.2 percent) African-American men assistant coaches in FBS college football, a slight increase from 2018. This is a sizeable percentage, but less than the proportion of football players who are Black.
There were some positive findings, however. For example, two African-American men were hired as conference commissioners—Kevin Warren in the Big Ten Conference and Keith Gill in the Sun Belt Conference. Also, the number of athletic directors of color increased by 3.1 percent to 18.5 percent. Thus, a grade of B for racial hiring of athletic directors.
Overall, whites hold 337 (84.3 percent) of the 400 campus leadership positions in FBS schools. With equity, whites would be 65 percent, and people of color 35 percent. These positions include conference commissioners and campus leaders, including college and university presidents and chancellors, athletic directors, and faculty athletic representatives. Dr. Lapchick commented quite appropriately, “I challenge the leadership at all colleges and universities to mirror the heterogeneous makeup of their students and student-athletes. The people in these leadership positions hold a responsibility to represent those they lead adequately. Unfortunately for collegiate sports, specifically the FBS institutions, the overrepresentation of white men has contributed to the lack of opportunities for women and people of color.”
