For the past five years the Black Coaches Association (BCA) has critiqued the way NCAA Division I institutions hire football coaches, and now it's turning that scrutiny to other athletic department positions as well. The BCA is expanding its Hiring Report Card to include Division I athletic directors and head women's basketball coaches, grading institutions on diversity in the search process.
The criteria for the new report cards, expected out this fall, will be the same as those used for football:
• contact with the BCA during the hiring process
• diversity of search and hiring committees
• diversity of the interview process
• time frame of the search
• adherence to institutional affirmative action hiring policies.
"The new areas we chose to look at are the ones where the numbers jump out the most," says Floyd Keith, Executive Director of the BCA. "Only about nine percent of women's basketball teams have coaches of color, and the number in administration is less than seven percent."
Keith says that since the BCA began issuing football coaching report cards in 2002, there has been progress in diversifying the search processes at many institutions. "I think the football searches are coming into line with what we're asking institutions to do, and a lot of schools are now even asking us for suggestions of candidates in other sports," Keith says. "The entity in itself is now known. You say 'Hiring Report Card' and people know what you're talking about. I think it's strengthened our voice on equality in hiring."