Sixteen NCAA institutions earned high marks in the latest Black Coaches and Administrators Hiring Report Card released today. Nine Football Bowl Subdivision and seven Football Championship Subdivision schools earned A’s – an all-time high in the history of the report – while only three institutions earned F’s (two in FBS and one in FCS).

The BCA developed its hiring report card to publically acknowledge how schools fare in filling high-profile coaching and administrative vacancies. Grades are based on five areas: communication with the BCA or the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee; diversity of the hiring committee; number of candidates of color provided with an official interview; time frame of the search and hiring process; and adherence to the institution’s affirmative action hiring policies.

In addition to the 16 A’s and three F’s, the BCA awarded four B’s (two each in the FBS and FCS) and eight C’s (five FBS and three FCS). For the first time, no institution received a D grade. Also for the first time, all 31 schools that were included in this year’s study submitted data for consideration, meaning each of the three F’s were issued for reasons other than nonparticipation.

While the report indicates that search committees are becoming increasingly diverse and more coaches of color are being interviewed for head coaching positions, those increases have not translated into a boost in the number of individuals of color actually chosen for those posts.

The 2008 football season began with eight coaches of color in Division I, including six African-Americans. With the recent firings of Ty Willingham at Washington and Ron Prince at Kansas State, there are now four African-Americans, a Latino and a Pacific Islander serving as head football coaches at FBS institutions. There are five African-Americans and one American Indian/Native American guiding FCS programs.

BCA Executive Director Floyd Keith said although he believes the hiring report card has made the search process for head coaches more transparent at the FBS and FCS levels, he remains concerned about the lack of progress.

 “The message in this report is that the process is being followed but the poor hiring results continue. College football hiring is out of sync with the current landscape and attitude of our country,” said Keith. “What is so unique about NCAA college football that it differs so greatly from the NFL, NCAA men’s basketball, or even the Army in leadership?”

Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, expressed strong support for the BCA’s hiring report card. She joined the BCA in applauding recent efforts to address the issue, such as the guidelines adopted by the Division I-A Athletics Directors Association, and emphasized that athletics directors play a key role in the hiring process.

“Expanding the interviewing process is the right approach for intercollegiate athletics because the talent is out there ready, willing and able to head a college football team,” said Westerhaus. “The true measure of progress and success will be when athletics directors are not merely interviewing candidates of color but when athletics directors actually hire head football coaches of color.”

Westerhaus said, though, that the NCAA cannot and will not endorse or mandate a policy similar to the NFL’s “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to interview at least one ethnic minority for any open head coaching position.

“However, the NCAA can and will continue to call for athletics directors to hire more of the presently available qualified, talented and able minorities to serve as head football coaches within NCAA football,” she said.

In addition to sharing the results of this year’s report card, the BCA also announced it is working with a Philadelphia law firm to establish an 800 number for football head coaches, assistant coaches, coordinators and other potential coaches to confidentially discuss on an individual basis any concerns related to their experiences in hiring processes. Each report will be examined on its own merits and any recommendations made by the law firm will pertain specifically to each individual’s concern.

Click here to review the entire 2007-08 BCA Hiring Report Card.