Though Stanford University has a reputation for strong academics, there is another distinction to add to its repute: athletics. The elite private school’s record of coaching diversity in major sports over the last 25 years is hard to match.
Stanford has had three Black head football coaches, more than any other school in Division I, outside of HBCUs.
“I think it is a pretty big deal,” says Dr. Boyce Watkins, a scholar who has pushed for racial equality in NCAA sports. “If you consider the history of racism, I think a lot of schools would be hard-pressed to have had three Black football coaches.”
Currently, Stanford has both a Black football coach, David Shaw, and a Black basketball coach, Johnny Dawkins. Other than HBCUs, that combination in two revenue-producing sports is rare, though not unique.
The campus, located near Palo Alto, Calif., also boasts a Black athletic director, Bernard Muir. One of his two deputies, Patrick Dunkley, is African-American.
“Somebody in the athletic department at Stanford — maybe a group of people — have made diversity a priority,” Watkins says. “You can’t help but applaud that.”
