A Report Card on Racial Diversity in College Sports

UCF_LogoThe Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida has published its annual report card on diversity in college sports. The overall grade for racial hiring practices at colleges and universities rose from 81 points in 2012 to 82.3 points in 2013.

Among the highlights of the report regarding African Americans in college sports are:

* Blacks are 22.7 percent of all student athletes in the NCAA’s Division I and 16.4 percent of all student athletes in all NCAA divisions.

* In Division I, African Americans make up more than 55 percent of the male student athletes in basketball and 42 percent in football, but only 2.6 percent of the baseball student athletes.

* African Americans are 8.7 percent of all head coaches for men’s teams and 7.7 percent of head coaches for women’s teams in Division I. They are 23 percent of the head coaches for men’s basketball in Division I.

* Blacks are more than 40 percent of the assistant coaches in Division I men’s basketball and 26 percent in football. Only 6 of the 728 assistant coaches in Division I baseball are African American.

* All 11 conference commissioners for schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision are White men. None of the 23 conference commissioners in the NCAA’s Division I are Black.

* Only 9 of the 243 athletics directors at Division I schools are African Americans.

* Blacks are 1.9 percent of the sports information directors at Division I schools.

For a copy of the 2013 College Sport Racial and Gender Report Card, click here.

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3 COMMENTS

    • Note the comment above should read as follows: This is a horrible failing report card which should not be a surprise to anyone. The long ‘Civil Rights Movement is completely moribund and non-functioning.
      The above report card is mediocrity at its finest and we should all be ashamed of this pathetic state of affairs in reference to affording true equal employment opportunities coupled with viable outcomes for Black Americans in our quest to be fully integrated into a dominate culture society which typically pays lip-service to the cause of granting equal employment opportunities.

      If integration of all the dominate culture institutions is still a goal to be sought and a full scale declaration of war must be declared on individual racism and the systemic structural barriers that prohibit, prevent or limit opportunities for Blacks in dominate culture institutions.
      White racism in white institutions must be eradicated by white people and not just by Black people. In fact, white racism is primarily a white responsibility.
      Who has the game plan for improving on the above numbers and how will it be implemented? Who will monitor the effectiveness of the plan the University of Central Florida?

      Malcolm X said ” Quit Begging.”

      Thanks

      • Ronald Saunders I beg to differ with you in your assessment of the research findings. With the exception of Athletic Directors, blacks are represented disproportionate higher in numbers than in the population. Black parents must accept some of the blame for the larger number of players. in football and basketball. This means the unreal belief their child is going to the pros making millions of dollars by going to Div 1 schools.. In reality, most will end up on these colleges special teams and sitting on the bench. If you check the NFL rosters you will find many that transferred to HBCU schools got a chance to showcase their talent thus ending up in the pros.

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