ORLANDO, Fla. — Leadership positions at Football Bowl Subdivision schools continue to be dominated by white men, according to a diversity report released Wednesday.
The annual report card from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport gave top-level college sports an overall grade of D+ for race and gender hiring in leadership positions, with a D+ for racial hiring and an F for gender hiring.
“If these were the grades of a college student, they’d either be expelled or suspended,” said Richard Lapchick, the primary author of the report and director of the University of Central Florida-based institute.
“Neither (racial or gender) grade at the college level is where it should be, or even close,” he added.
The study examined the race and gender of top positions such as college and university presidents, athletic directors and faculty athletics representatives for the 130 schools in the FBS, as well as the racial composition of the football coaching staffs and rosters.
The results indicate little deviation from the findings in 2016, and show that when all leadership positions were combined, there were “minor increases” in the representation of women and people of color.
Lapchick said his primary takeaway was that lack of improvement, and has been a proponent of rules that would require teams to interview minorities and women for jobs. A poor hiring record led the NCAA in September 2016 to draft a pledge to promote diversity and gender equity in college sports. College presidents who signed it promised to identify, recruit and interview people from diverse backgrounds for leadership positions.
