The NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee wants legislation requiring athletics departments to document their following of institutional hiring guidelines when they fill vacancies. The policy, which would require the signature of both the president and director of athletics, would apply to all athletics hires. The MOIC would review the documentation on a regular basis and issue an annual report.

The MOIC suggested the idea during its January 28-29 meeting in Indianapolis, at which the group under new chair Rudy Keeling, commissioner of the Eastern College Athletic Conference, agreed to narrow its immediate focus to three primary concerns: hiring practices, diversity in the NCAA governance structure, and ethnic-minority participation in baseball and softball.

"This is one of the most important committees in the NCAA structure. It was time for us to come up with something new and meaningful that we could get behind and make a difference," said Keeling, who in January succeeded the MOIC's first female chair, Gwendolyn Reeves of Fort Valley State.

Recently at the forefront of the explosive American Indian and Confederate battle flag issues, the MOIC now will turn its attention to athletics departments' hiring processes. Members will spend their immediate future determining the parameters of their proposal and whether it should come with sanctions for those who don’t comply.

"This goes to the heart of what the MOIC is all about – fairness and equal opportunity for ethnic minorities and women," Keeling said. "If people will follow not only their school's hiring practices but also the government's hiring practices, then the opportunities for minorities and women in different areas of athletics will blossom."

Keeling in fact sees a wider application of the MOIC's proposal if it proves to be effective. "If this makes a difference in athletics departments, I could see it carrying over to the hiring practices of the entire university as a way of ensuring that people of color and women are considered fairly,” he said.

The MOIC wants to draft a proposal in time for the 2009 legislative cycle.

The committee also agreed to evaluate the diversity within each division's governance structure on a rolling basis, starting with Division I, which will implement a revised structure this year. Reviews of Divisions II and III will follow at subsequent meetings, with a target finish date of January 2009. After completing its evaluation, the committee will determine if further action is required.

The MOIC's third area of emphasis will be on the plunging number of African-Americans playing baseball and softball. The committee plans to partner with the national office's research staff to survey current head baseball and softball coaches of color.

"More than anything, the survey will entail looking at minority coaches in the business today, why they are in the business and why they feel we're not seeing more people of color following in their footsteps," Keeling said. "If we can identify those factors, we can identify next steps."

‘Predetermined successors’

In other actions, the MOIC discussed the recent trend of schools naming a coach's successor before the coach retires. Members expressed concern about the lack of transparency in the hiring process and the absence in some cases of a binding contract securing the successor's promotion. They also are wary of the potential negative impact on opportunities for ethnic minorities. However, the committee noted that naming a successor could positively affect the continuity of the program and the comfort and well-being of participating student-athletes. It also could work in favor of assistant coaches and coordinators of color, they said. While the group took no position on the trend, members committed to monitoring the issue and stressing the importance of institutions following all local, state and federal hiring laws.

The MOIC also drafted letters to the NCAA Divisions II and III Membership Committees, offering to partner with those groups to enhance the diversity and gender-equity portions of the Institutional Self-Study Guides. Additionally, the letter will request that Divisions II and III require schools' Title IX and Affirmative Action officers or their designees to sign the Notification of Completion Form that accompanies the self-study guide. 

Through programmatic updates, the committee noted that the deadlines to apply for the NCAA Division III Ethnic Minorities and Women's Internship Grant Program and the Division III Strategic Alliance Matching Grant are February 15 and March 3, respectively. For more information and application materials, click on the Diversity and Inclusion link under the About the NCAA tab at www.ncaa.org.