College football's top level has dearth of minority coaches
May 11, 2009
Minority football coaches are getting within reach of major-college head coaching jobs at an increasing rate, but their progress in making that final move isn't keeping pace, a USA TODAY study has found. In 2002, the last time USA TODAY examined diversity at the highest ranks of major-college football coaching, about 3.5% of head coaches and 5% of offensive and defensive coordinators were minorities. Those coordinator positions are traditionally steppingstone jobs to head coaching spots.
Currently, 7.5% of head coaches (nine of 120) and about 15% of offensive and defensive coordinators (39 of 261) in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision are minorities, the study found.
The nine minority head coaches is a record for major-college football, but "not by any stretch of the imagination where it should be," says Floyd Keith, executive director of Black Coaches and Administrators. Nearly 19% of NFL head coaches (six of 32) are minorities.
The 39 minority coordinators are one more than the record number found during the 2008 season by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, which found that 54% of FBS players were minorities.
The number of minority head coaches in the college ranks "is not a pipeline issue," says Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion.
"People at the jumping-off point to being a head coach are there," she says. "We know they're there. ... Athletics directors know they're there. And the news media know they're there; you see them on TV."
Keith adds that the pool of minority head coaching candidates extends to NFL staffs and, "We've got to continue to move this forward so that a lot of those who've reached this (college coordinator) level don't get frustrated and move to the NFL because of the pay and the opportunity. I mean, six out of 32 (as NFL head coaches) is a big difference."
Courtesy of the USA Today
