The Buck Stops Here: Assessing Diversity Among Campus and Conference Leaders for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Schools in the 2009-10 Academic Year, a new report released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) in the College of Business Administration, shows that the key leadership positions at FBS schools and conferences remained overwhelmingly white and male. The 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, football student-athletes and faculty.
“Women and people of color who seek leadership positions in American higher education and in college sport face enormous odds. The leadership in power structure in college sport remains overwhelmingly white. In FBS institutions, this includes 100 percent of the conference commissioners, 93.3 percent of the presidents, 86.7 percent of the athletics directors, 92.6 percent of the faculty athletics reps, 92.5 percent of the head football coaches, and 82.9 percent of the faculty. Only 3.6 percent of the faculty are African-American and 3.7 percent are Latino,” said Richard Lapchick, the primary author of the study and the director of TIDES, which is part of the UCF College of Business Administration. Lapchick is also the chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program. The study was co-authored by Derek McMechan.
The full report can be viewed on the TIDES Web site.