Diversity report shows decline in gender hiring practices for NCAA member schools

A report released Wednesday on the NCAA and its member schools shows fewer women holding jobs in college sports and only a small improvement in racial diversity.

The report, released Wednesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, gave college sports a B grade for racial hiring practices and a C-plus for gender hiring. The racial score of 82.3 points in 2013 increased from 81 points in 2012, while the gender score decreased from 81.3 points in 2012 to 75.9 in 2013.

College sports has the lowest grade for racial hiring, and only ranks higher than the NFL for gender hiring, among all college and professional leagues in the study. The Institute also produces report cards on the NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.

"I think that this is an example of where college sport has failed," said TIDES director Richard Lapchick, the primary author of the report. "It's unfortunate that it comes at a time when so much is going on in college sports and so much change is coming about. Of course, it calls into question the people who are making those changes."

The 2013 report card includes racial and gender personnel data at the NCAA headquarters as well as for university presidents, athletic directors, head football coaches, football coordinators and faculty athletic representatives at the 125 institutions in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

It covers the 2011-2012 and 20122013 academic years. It also includes information for conference commissioners and student-athletes throughout all athletic divisions.

Some of the most glaring gender deficiencies Lapchick noted were in the key leadership positions inside conference offices and in university athletic departments.

All 11 FBS conference commissioner posts continue to be held by white men.

The number of female presidents at the 125 FBS schools increased from 18 in 2012 to 19 in 2013, and the number of female conference commissioners in Division I from six to seven.

The same was true among athletic directors, where women showed small gains at the Division I and Division II levels.

But among associate athletic directors, one of the feeder jobs to athletic director, the numbers remained mostly stagnant.

In Division I, women occupied 29.5 percent (499) of associate athletic director jobs, 41.8 percent (125) in Division II and 51 percent (150) in Division III in 2012-13. That was compared to 30 (464), 41.1 (116) and 48.9 percent (136), respectively, in 2011-12.

Women held only 38.7 percent of the head coaching jobs of women's teams in Division I, and at less than 40 percent across all three divisions combined. Women also held less than 50 percent of the assistant coaching positions of women's teams in all divisions.

"The pipeline is almost wider than what the pipeline is leading up to," Lapchick said. "I think the long-term effects are yet to be measured. But it's a concern to me that decisions being made on college sports at this point are overwhelmingly being made by white men."

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Online: http://tidesport.org/

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