Test tubes... of science(!) for a report with numbers and stuff.The NCAA, as is their wont, does reports on stuff. Like the fact that contact causes injury. They've just come out with another of their long-term investigative studies, this one on the number of black coaches in various sports, and have the following results over the past decade:
- Black head coaches at men's revenue sports nearly doubled from 12.7 percent to 22.4 percent.
- Black head coaches in all sports went from 4.2 percent to 5.3 percent.
- Black administrators rose from 8.4 percent to 9.5 percent.
- Overall percentage of black athletes dropped to 23.7 percent from 24.5 percent.
- Black athletes in football and men's and women's basketball increased from 50.9 percent to 54.5 percent.
Here's Charlotte Westerhaus, the NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion:
"Overall, if you look at the growth of student-athletes of color who are involved in NCAA athletics, the big takeaway from this report is that the growth is not being reflected in the numbers of individuals who are either choosing or receiving the opportunity to become assistant or head coaches, directors of athletics and senior woman administrators."Um. The "growth" in student-athletes of color is a negative one. On the other hand, the growth in black coaches and administrators is a positive one. Even if you are expecting the jump in football/basketball percentages to directly correspond to a jump in head coaching positions -- a very, very debatable assumption --, um... head coaches are old. The first time the 2006 number is going to be relevant is when the kids in that class are, like, 40 or 50.
Maybe these numbers aren't going up as fast as they should be. But they are going up, and the relevant numbers for comparison's sake are those from thirty years ago, not yesterday, unless there is a super-fast-track to head coaching positions I haven't been informed of. In which case, I am seriously pissed off and want in, like, now.
