Failing grade for college sport’s diversity hiring

he Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) has challenged pro leagues and college sport for over three decades by issuing racial and gender report cards. For the most part, the MSR has been the only local media that has devoted more than a passing reference whenever the grades are released.

The latest TIDES’ college sport study, which came out in March, showed once again, that a primary reason why there continues to be a low percentage of Blacks in key sports leadership roles, such as head coaches, is because over 80 percent of athletic directors and university presidents and chancellors are held by White men in all three NCAA divisions.

“We have overwhelmingly White presidents and athletic directors mak ing the (coaching hir ing) decisions,” TIDES founder and director, Richard Lapchick, re cently told the MSR.

The numbers don’t lie.

In 2021-22, head coach es in men’s sports were dominated by White men, while Black head coaches held 9.9 percent, 6.7 percent, and 6.3 percent of men’s HC positions in Divisions I, II, and III, respectively. As for women’s teams, White coaches held more than 80 percent, 84.5 percent, and 88 percent of the head coaching positions, while Black HCs held 10 percent, 6.4 percent and 6.3 percent of the head coaching positions in women’s Divisions I, II, and III, respectively.

“Collegiate athletics continue to struggle with including more people of color in leadership positions.”

“Collegiate athletics continue to struggle with including more people of color in leadership positions,” noted Lapchick in his executive summary, and pointed out that of 402 campus leadership positions, Whites hold just around 80 percent of them. Nationally, there are 13 Black presidents, and 20 Black athletic directors at predominantly White instituLocally, there are two Black athletic directors–Carlton College’s Gerald Young, and Donnie Brooks at Macalester–both in Division III, and one Latino AD, See View on page 9