College sports lost ground in hiring women and minorities, according to a new report released Thursday.
The report, produced by the University of Central Florida-based Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, shows that efforts to hire coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners actually worsened over the course of a year.
The report examined hiring practices of NCAA member institutions.
“It certainly calls for new strategies to bring about effective change,” said Dr. Richard Lapchick, director of the institute and chief author of the report card. “I recently called for the equivalent of a civil rights movement in college sports.”
This is the worst report card for college sports in many years, Lapchick added.
For example, the study found that all 11 conference commissioners of the Football Bowl Subdivision are White men; and in men’s Division I basketball — long held as an area of great opportunity for coaches of color — the percentage of Black head coaches declined from 25.2 percent three years ago to its current 22.9 percent.
