In College Football, It Is Still Mostly Black Players and White Coaches

According to a new report prepared by the Black Coaches and Administrators Association by C. Keith Harrison, associate professor of sport business management at the University of Central Florida and director of the Paul Robeson Research Center for Academic and Athletic Prowess at the University of Michigan, blacks continue to make very slow progress into the coaching ranks of college football.

African Americans make up more than one half of all football players on athletic scholarships at the nation’s largest college football programs. But since 1982 there have been 437 openings for a head football coach at colleges and universities in Division IA of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Only 21 of these openings have been filled by black coaches. Since 1996 there have been 12 black coaches selected for the 197 available positions.

There are currently 120 colleges and universities that compete in the top division of college football. There are six black head coaches. The universities currently with black head coaches are Mississippi State University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Buffalo, Kansas State University, the University of  Miami, and the University of Washington.

There are 122 colleges and universities in the second tier of college football, which was previously called Division I-AA and is now known as the Football Championship Subdivision. There are four black head coaches at these 122 schools. The four universities with black coaches in this division are at Valparaiso University, Southeast Missouri State University, Indiana State University, and Columbia University.

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