Just months shy of celebrating its 20th year of operation, the Black Coaches Association announced plans to change its name.

Members had until July 1 to vote on two potential names — Diverse Coaches and Administrators or Diverse Coaches and Administrators Association — or recommend a third option. A final decision is expected later this summer.

BCA Executive Director Floyd Keith announced the planned change early last month during his State of the BCA address at the organization’s annual national convention in Miami. While the initial announcement caught some BCA members by surprise, Keith said his board of directors has been debating the possibility for two years.

Ultimately, Keith said, the board was swayed by a desire to align the organization’s name with its stated mission of fostering the growth and development of coaches, administrators, officials and student-athletes of all racial and ethnic backgrounds — not just coaches and not just African-Americans.

Keith and the rest of the BCA leadership believe the new name will more clearly extend to the broader sports community a welcome mat that he emphasized has been there since the organization was founded in 1988. For example, 20 percent of the BCA’s more than 3,200 current members are administrators.

"We’ve made some limited progress, but we still have the same issues and we think it’s important for the BCA to be sensitive to what’s changing in America and society," said Keith. "You can’t go at this fight alone. We haven’t been, but now we want people who want to join a cause that is similar to ours to feel like they can do so without having any identity issues."

Eugene Marshall, deputy director of athletics at the U.S. Military Academy and president of the BCA, said the board believes a name change will boost membership numbers and create sponsorship opportunities for the organization. Marshall points to the magazine formerly known as Black Issues in Education as an example. When the publication changed its name to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, it experienced a significant increase in subscriptions.

On the sponsorship front, the BCA recently entered an agreement with Learfield Sports in which Learfield will manage BCA corporate sponsorships and the development of promotional vehicles tied to the organization’s programs, events and initiatives. The initial term of the deal is six years, beginning this fall.

Other plans being considered by the group include adding board representation for other under-represented groups. Even as the BCA leadership begins to reach out to new populations, Marshall said the group will continue to assist coaches of color.

"Some people have asked, will black coaches, administrators and student-athletes be pushed to the back burner?" Marshall said. "Absolutely not. We want to be able to increase the base, but not lose the mission of helping coaches of color. We are making some bold steps to position ourselves to be a major advocate for diversity in NCAA, NAIA and high school sports. We are going to be a major change agent. To do that we need resources, funding and members."