Blacks gain in graduation rate on bowl teams

The racial gap in graduation rates for this year’s bowl teams in college football has shrunk, with a study pointing to gains by Black athletes for pushing that improvement.

The study from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida reported that the overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for bowl-bound teams had increased to 81.3 percent, up from 78 percent for 2020. Yet the racial gap fell as the average GSR for Black athletes rose from 73.4 percent in 2020 to 78 percent this year while white athletes remained steady at 89.7 percent.

The gap of 11.7 percentage points was down from a 16.3point gap in 2020.

“The fact that it stayed the same for white student-athletes, that could be totally cyclical,” TIDES director and lead report author Richard Lapchick said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But narrowing the gap this much is significant from my point of view, because for me, that’s why we do the graduationrate study.”

The study cited GSR, a methodology developed in 2002 and used by the NCAA to consider athlete transfer patterns that can affect graduation. The study noted that the GSR of both white and Black football players stood significantly higher than the graduation rate of non-athlete students, and the racial gap between white and Black nonathletes was much higher at roughly 25 percentage points.

“The concern over that gap has always been there,”

Lapchick said. “First, it still is — it should be equal. Sometimes it has closed because the white rate dropped, which is not news for Black athletes. But this is news for Black athletes.”

NCAA spokeswoman Michelle Hosick declined to comment Friday night.

The study also cited the performances of the four teams in the College Football Playoff: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Cincinnati.

Of that group, Alabama (86 percent), Michigan (96 percent) and Cincinnati (86 percent) were significantly ahead of Georgia (59 percent) in GSR.

In addition, the Bulldogs had a racial GSR gap (23 percentage points) as big as the Crimson Tide (9), Wolverines (6) and Bearcats (8) combined, according to the study.

TIDES issues annual report cards on racial- and genderhiring practices in professional leagues such as the NFL, NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, as well as for college sports.