White Men Continue to Dominate Big-Time Sports Leadership

The majority of individuals in leadership positions of big-time college athletics programs and conferences remain white and male, according to a new study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. For example, all 11 conference commissioners in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association are white men. In addition, there are only 14 “athletic directors of color” in the FBS, which has 118 member institutions. Still, the study did identify some signs of progress: "a record-high 15 head coaches of color led FBS teams at the start of the 2010 college football season."