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NCAA blogger Josh Centor recently posted the following commentary about minority hiring practices on the NCAA’s Double-A Zone (http://www.doubleazone.com).
I don’t always agree with columns I read in newspapers about intercollegiate athletics, but for the most part, journalists don’t editorialize without doing their homework. I love that the blogosphere has encouraged millions to begin writing and sharing their opinions on a daily basis, but it’s certainly frustrating when someone writes without doing the necessary background work.
In a piece written by The Sports Curmudgeon earlier this month, the author criticizes the NCAA for meddling in issues such as Native American mascots while failing to address the lack of diversity among coaches at the highest level of college football.
As I’ve stated a number of times recently, the absence of African-American coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision is appalling. The Curmudgeon asserts that the NCAA “is totally silent” on the issue of coaching diversity and “it’s embarrassing for them to admit how multiculturally exclusive they are.”
What gets me about this isn’t the subject matter — we both agree about the glaring inequity among college football coaches. What the Curmudgeon has blatantly missed in his anti-NCAA rant, however, are all of the actions the national office has taken toward finding a solution.
Among the programs the NCAA sponsors are the Football Coaching Academies, which assist minority football coaches who have a desire to secure head coaching positions. The Men’s Coaching Academy is open to applicants who have between one and eight years of coaching experience, while the Expert Coaching Academy is for those who have at least eight years on the sidelines. The programs are designed to take good coaches and give them the skills necessary to make them leading candidates for head coaching positions. Kansas State head coach Ron Prince and Columbia head coach Norries Wilson are graduates of this program.
The Future Coaches Academy is offered for individuals who have recently completed their collegiate eligibility and want to explore a career in coaching. The NCAA also partners with the NFL to provide internship opportunities for players during the off-season. The program is administered by the NCAA’s office for diversity and inclusion. While none of these programs immediately fixes the problem, rest assured that instead of silence, people here are talking loudly about the issue.
In his State of the Association address at the NCAA Convention in January, NCAA President Myles Brand implored campus leaders to protect the fairness of intercollegiate athletics. Brand identified sportsmanship, diversity in hiring and participation opportunities for women as three challenges the Association must overcome in the future to make progress.
In the press conference after his address, Brand said he would like to see NCAA member institutions become fairer in their hiring practices on their own accord, rather than having something legislated or mandated by the courts. If something doesn’t happen soon, Brand said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see litigation as a response.
In addition, the Curmudgeon doesn’t at all address that the NCAA and President Brand aren’t responsible for the coaches that institutions hire to lead their football programs. While the membership committees could certainly legislate a formal hiring process for schools to follow as they look for new coaches, at this point each institution’s administration is solely responsible for its own hiring practices.
The Curmudgeon and I agree on the principles of the hiring issue, but before he shares his voice with the masses, it would make sense to check out what types of conversations are actually happening.
I don’t always agree with columns I read in newspapers about intercollegiate athletics, but for the most part, journalists don’t editorialize without doing their homework. I love that the blogosphere has encouraged millions to begin writing and sharing their opinions on a daily basis, but it’s certainly frustrating when someone writes without doing the necessary background work.
In a piece written by The Sports Curmudgeon earlier this month, the author criticizes the NCAA for meddling in issues such as Native American mascots while failing to address the lack of diversity among coaches at the highest level of college football.
As I’ve stated a number of times recently, the absence of African-American coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision is appalling. The Curmudgeon asserts that the NCAA “is totally silent” on the issue of coaching diversity and “it’s embarrassing for them to admit how multiculturally exclusive they are.”
What gets me about this isn’t the subject matter — we both agree about the glaring inequity among college football coaches. What the Curmudgeon has blatantly missed in his anti-NCAA rant, however, are all of the actions the national office has taken toward finding a solution.
Among the programs the NCAA sponsors are the Football Coaching Academies, which assist minority football coaches who have a desire to secure head coaching positions. The Men’s Coaching Academy is open to applicants who have between one and eight years of coaching experience, while the Expert Coaching Academy is for those who have at least eight years on the sidelines. The programs are designed to take good coaches and give them the skills necessary to make them leading candidates for head coaching positions. Kansas State head coach Ron Prince and Columbia head coach Norries Wilson are graduates of this program.
The Future Coaches Academy is offered for individuals who have recently completed their collegiate eligibility and want to explore a career in coaching. The NCAA also partners with the NFL to provide internship opportunities for players during the off-season. The program is administered by the NCAA’s office for diversity and inclusion. While none of these programs immediately fixes the problem, rest assured that instead of silence, people here are talking loudly about the issue.
In his State of the Association address at the NCAA Convention in January, NCAA President Myles Brand implored campus leaders to protect the fairness of intercollegiate athletics. Brand identified sportsmanship, diversity in hiring and participation opportunities for women as three challenges the Association must overcome in the future to make progress.
In the press conference after his address, Brand said he would like to see NCAA member institutions become fairer in their hiring practices on their own accord, rather than having something legislated or mandated by the courts. If something doesn’t happen soon, Brand said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see litigation as a response.
In addition, the Curmudgeon doesn’t at all address that the NCAA and President Brand aren’t responsible for the coaches that institutions hire to lead their football programs. While the membership committees could certainly legislate a formal hiring process for schools to follow as they look for new coaches, at this point each institution’s administration is solely responsible for its own hiring practices.
The Curmudgeon and I agree on the principles of the hiring issue, but before he shares his voice with the masses, it would make sense to check out what types of conversations are actually happening.
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