Coaching staffs short of minorities
College football has made notable gains in recent years in minority hiring for leadership positions, including coaches, but remains overwhelmingly white and male, according to a study released Wednesday by the University of Central Florida.
This year’s report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) showed a decline at Football Bowl Subdivision schools in the percentage of women in campus leadership positions, with a slight increase in the representation of people of color, notably for Latinos and Asians.
There were 18 minority head coaches among the 120 FBS schools in 2012, down one from the previous year. The total of black coaches (14 this season) declined again whenJonEmbreewas fired Sunday at Colorado.
“With an all-time high of 19 head football coaches of color in last year’s report, we expected to see continued progress in the diversity of FBS head coaches,” said Richard Lapchick, director of TIDES and principal author of the report.
Of the 41 blacks who have been head coaches of FBS schools, 24 were hired since the initial BlackCoachesand AdministratorsFootballHiring Report Card in 2004. Four of them are at schools currently ranked in the BCS Top 25 — Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M), David Shaw (Stanford), Charlie Strong (Louisville) and Darrell Hazell (Kent State).
But the firing of Embree after going 4-21 in two seasons at Colorado raised the issue of whether black coaches receive less leeway than white counterparts. Former Colorado coach Bill McCartney said that is the case during an interview on ESPNradio in Denver.
McCartney, who is white, pointed out that he received a contract extension at Colorado in 1984 after winning only seven games in his first three seasons.
“Honestly, I believe it’s because I’m Caucasian. I believe black menhave less op- portunity, shorter time if you will,” McCartney said.
Minoritycoacheswhofail are usually one and done. Tyrone Willingham is the only black coach to be let go by a FBS school and rehired by another.
“On the issue of AfricanAmerican football coaches’ opportunities, it’s improved enormously. What happens once they get there, we’ve still got to work on a little bit, I think,” Lapchick said.
The TIDES study examined the race and gender of conference commissioners and campus leaders, including college and university presidents, athletics directors and faculty athletics representatives. Most of the leadership positions remained the same or had close to a one-percentage point increase for people of color since 2011.