Assessing Diversity among Campus and Conference Leaders for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Schools

Media Contact: Jessica Bartter jbartter@bus.ucf.edu, 407-823-4884 The Buck Stops Here:

Assessing Diversity among Campus and Conference Leaders for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Schools in the 2008-09 Academic Year

Orlando, FL… November 6, 2008 – With the firing of Ty Willingham at the University of Washington and the resignation of Ron Prince at Kansas State, the 2008 regular season of college football will conclude with the controversy over the poor record of hiring African-American Division IA (Football Bowl Subdivision – FBS) head football coaches still continuing to make headlines. Their departure will leave only four African-American and two other head coaches of color. College football is still far behind other college and professional sports. The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida today released The Buck Stops Here: Assessing Diversity among Campus and Conference Leaders for Division IA (FBS) Schools in 2008-09. This study examines the race and gender of conference commissioners and campus leaders including college and university presidents, athletics directors, and faculty athletics representatives for all 120 FBS institutions. The study also includes head football coaches, offensive and defensive coordinators, assistant coaches, and football student-athletes. Finally, the faculty as a whole is examined. Richard Lapchick, who is the primary author of the study as director of The Institute, said, “The leadership which is the power structure in college sport remains overwhelming white. In FBS institutions, this includes 92.5 percent of the presidents, 87.5 percent of the athletics directors, 92.6 percent of the faculty athletics reps, 83.3 percent of the faculty and 100 percent of the conference commissioners. Only 3.5 percent of the faculty are African-American and 3.4 are percent Latino.” This year’s figures represent a slight change for people of color as presidents (up 0.8 percent), athletic directors (down 0.8 percent), and head coaches (up 0.8 percent). During the past year the percentage of women serving as president increased by 3.3 percent, decreased for athletic directors by 0.8 percent, and decreased two percent for faculty athletic representatives. Two Latina women and one Asian woman were hired as presidents. Lapchick went on to say that, “While the percentages are slightly better, the general picture is still one of white men running college sport. Overall, the numbers simply do not reflect the diversity of our student-athletes. Moreover, they do not reflect the diversity of our nation where we have elected an African-American as President for the first time.” [Full press release: http://www.tidesport.org/Grad%20Rates/2008-09_FBS_Demographics_Study.pdf ]