Black Teams, White Coaches: Racial Inequality in College Sports

Despite the huge percentage of college athletes who are black, African Americans make up small percentages of the coaching staffs in most college sports. According to a new report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, in 2005, 7.3 percent of all head coaches of men’s teams at the nation’s largest college athletic programs were black. For women’s teams, 6.6 percent of the head coaches at the large colleges and universities were black.

Blacks made up 3.2 percent of all the head football coaches in the college ranks. At the 119 Division I-A universities that participate in big-time college football, blacks are 55 percent of the players but only 5 percent of the head coaches.

In men’s college basketball, where over 62 percent of the athletes are black, 14.0 percent of the head coaches are African Americans. Only 0.7 percent of all head coaches in college baseball are black.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.