The NCAA unveiled its latest program aimed at encouraging diversity among head coaches of NCAA football programs.

The Champions Forum will link selected coaches with athletics directors, who will offer insight into the hiring process, provide career guidance and serve as an advocate for them when head coach positions become available.

A selection committee comprised of five former Division I directors of athletics chose the 11 participants from a pool of 31 candidates, which included graduates of the Expert Coaches Forum, another NCAA professional development program for football coaches with eight years or more experience.

The Champions Forum will be June 18-20 in Orlando in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics annual convention.

Participants in the inaugural Champions Forum include Garret Chachere, Arizona; Henry Frazier, Prairie View; Jaime Hill, Brigham Young; Michael Hoyt, Albright; Brian Jones, Missouri; David Kelly, Central Florida; Jeffrey McInerney, Central Connecticut State; Don Pellum, Oregon; Larry Porter, LSU; James Spady, Grambling State; and Paul Winters, Wayne State (Michigan).

Directors of athletics chosen to participate in the forum are Damon Evans, Georgia; Kirby Hocutt, Miami (Florida); Eric Hyman, South Carolina; Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma; Bubba Cunningham, Tulsa; Jim Phillips, Northwestern; Tim Selgo, Grand Valley State; Lee McElroy, Albany; Derrick Gragg, Eastern Michigan; and Joy Solomen, Rowan. An additional athletics director will be named at a later date.  

Each participating coach will be paired with an athletics director as part of the forum. Each pair will be given time to develop professional relationships through one-on-one interaction during the three-day event, which will include mock interview sessions, a panel discussion and fireside chat featuring athletics directors.

The main purpose of the newest forum is to expand the network of both the participating coaches and the athletics directors. Not only will coaches have a chance to meet top athletics directors, but athletics directors will have the opportunity to increase their knowledge of potential candidates for future head coaching positions.

Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion said there is a large gap between the number of minority head football coaches and the number of ethnic minority student-athletes who compete in the sport. The forum, she said, will help bridge that gap.

“In the context of hiring minority head football coaches, it’s often said that athletics directors are not familiar with all of the diverse talent within the coaching ranks,” said Westerhaus. “The new NCAA Champions Forum will address this by bringing successful coaches from our Expert Academy face-to-face with key individuals who have the hiring power and professional connections with other athletics directors in the NCAA membership.  The selected diverse coaches already have the requisite skill sets, we’re just placing them in the presence of highly regarded athletics directors who have hiring power and professional connections with other athletics directors.”

Of the current 119 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head football coaches, seven are African-American, one is Pacific Islander, and one is Latino.  Out of a total of 582 football programs in Divisions I, II and III, only 3.9 percent are coaches are of color, excluding the historically black coaches and universities.

The selection committee included retired athletics directors Marino Casem (Southern), Andy Geiger (Ohio State), Paul Dee [Miami (Florida)], Todd Turner (Washington) and C.M. Newton (Kentucky).

The Champions Forum will become an annual program offered through the NCAA diversity and inclusion unit. For more information, contact Ira Childress, NCAA assistant director of diversity and inclusion, at ichildress@ncaa.org.