The Black Coaches Association (BCA) announced a framework for its hiring report card to address diversity issues in the college football head coaching ranks during an October 21 press conference at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis.

The BCA plans to use the hiring report card as a significant component in the evaluation of NCAA Division I institutional searches and hirings of head football coaches. The BCA, in conjunction with a subcommittee formed by participants of the BCA's Summit for Football Equity in Hiring, plan to publicly announce the results of the report card annually, beginning in October 2004.

Floyd Keith, executive director of the BCA, said the hiring report card will serve as a cornerstone of accountability in the overall process.

"Our research and experiences with the history of hiring practices strongly suggest that the status quo currently accepted is flawed," he said. "We feel adherence to the suggested criteria in the hiring report card will positively strengthen the hiring practices and search methods currently used by institutions, provided the suggested model is followed."

Keith said institutions will be evaluated in five categories: (1) contact with the BCA during hiring process, (2) efforts to interview candidates of color, (3) diversity of the hiring process, (4) the time frame of the search, and (5) the adherence to institutional affirmative-action hiring policies.

In order to determine an institution's final grade, a letter grade of "A" through "F" will be assigned to each of the five criteria. Each letter grade also has been assigned a value: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0. In addition, the category for the number of candidates of color interviewed for open positions will be weighted double.

The sum of the values from each of the letter grades awarded in each category will be the final grade an institution receives. A maximum grade of 24 is possible if an institution receives an "A" in all five categories. An institution will receive an "A" for a score between 20-24, a "B" for a score between 15-19, a "C" for a score between 10-14, a "D" for a score between 5-9 and an "F" for a score between 0-4.

NCAA President Myles Brand said the issue rests on two premises: there is a problem that there are only four black head football coaches in Division I-A despite a growing number of minority student-athletes who participate in the sport; and the people who are working on the problem are doing so in good faith, without biases, yet there has been no progress made.

"I drew a conclusion that we have to change the process in order to solve the problem," Brand said. "The process should resemble, within reason, the process universities use to hire vice-presidents and deans."

Brand has advocated a process for athletics searches that features a representative and diverse search committee that identifies leading candidates, most especially minority candidates, then presents a short list for the university CEO to interview. The process, which mirrors the approach taken in successful academic searches, may take up to a month to complete, which is longer than many recent athletics searches, but Brand has said -- and the BCA has agreed -- that the patient approach is more likely to meet diversity goals.

Brand said the NCAA's role has been to help constituents better understand how the issue can be resolved through the search process, and that the BCA has gone a step further in adding an accountability measure for institutions.

"That's a very important piece the BCA has taken responsibility for," Brand said. "A better search process with accountability, I think, gives us the best chance to solve the problem."

C. Keith Harrison, founder and director of the Paul Robeson Research Center for Academic and Athletic Prowess and assistant professor of sport management at the University of Michigan, was awarded a three-year grant by the BCA subcommittee to implement the hiring report card project.

Members of the subcommittee who announced the hiring report card included Keith and Brand. Harrison also was in attendance to explain the components of the report card.

Other members of the subcommittee include Daniel Boggan Jr., former NCAA senior vice-president; Rochelle Collins, NCAA director of professional development; Stan Johnson, executive director of Minority Opportunities in Athletic Administration; Richard Lapchick, director of DeVos Sports Management; Eugene Marshall, chair of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and director of athletics at Ramapo College; and BCA President Stan Wilcox, associate commissioner of the Big East Conference.