College Athletic Powerhouses Earn a Grade of D in Achieving Racial Equity in Leadership Posts

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida recently released its annual report on equity in leadership at the 130 colleges and universities that make up the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division 1 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. These educational institutions are generally the powerhouses of college athletics.

One of the 10 athletic conferences in the Football Bowl subdivision, all are White.

The report found that of the 130 colleges and universities, in the fall of 2018 African Americans served as president at five institutions: the U.S. Military Academy, Middle Tennessee State University, Ohio State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Western Michigan University. Blacks were 3.8 percent of the presidents at these 130 schools.

There were 12 African Americans who served as athletics director at these 130 colleges and universities. Thus, Blacks made up 9.2 percent of the athletics directors at these schools. The colleges and universities where an African American was athletics director in the fall of 2018 were: Arizona State University, Boston College, the University at Buffalo, the University of Maryland-College Park, the University of Michigan, Northern Illinois University, Ohio State University, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, the University of Tulsa, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia. A year ago, there were two fewer African American athletic directors than was the case a year ago.

Eleven African Americans served as faculty athletics representatives at these schools. They made up made up 8.1 percent of the faculty athletic representatives at these 130 colleges and universities.

Overall, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport gave these 130 colleges and universities a grade of D in their efforts to achieve racial diversity in leadership positions.

The report also noted that 15 of the 130 head football coaches at these 130 colleges and universities were Black men, an increase of one from a year ago. Blacks made up 11.5 percent of all head coaches at these schools. In contrast, African Americans were 54.3 percent of the football athletes at these schools.

The full report, The 2018 Racial and Gender Report Card: D1 FBS Leadership, may be downloaded by clicking here.

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