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Demographics data show more inclusive trends

Searchable online database replaces previous reports

By Gary Brown
NCAA.org

NCAA research on the demographics of student-athletes and the institutional staffs that oversee them continue to reveal a more diversified picture than in years past.

Data submitted from NCAA institutions for the 2010-11 academic year show a majority for black student-athletes in Division I football, and gains for minorities and women in leadership positions on the administrative side, among other findings.

The data, submitted annually by NCAA member schools, previously were compiled as the Student-Athlete Race and Ethnicity Report, and the Race and Gender Demographics Reports (one for institutions and one for conferences) that were either printed or presented as PDFs online. This year, though, for the first time, the data are provided in a searchable database online.

Findings from the student-athlete figures show a second consecutive year of African-American student-athletes constituting most of the participants in Division I football. For 2010-11, 46 percent of student-athletes in Division I football (including the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision) were black, followed closely by whites at 44 percent. That’s a wider gap than in 2009-10 when black football players composed 45.8 percent of the Division I population and 45.1 percent were white.

African-Americans had composed the highest percentage of football student-athletes in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2007-08 and 2008-09, but last year was the first time that they had been the dominant demographic in all of Division I football. That trend continued in 2010-11.

The percentages represent a significant jump from the first student-athlete ethnicity figures released  in 1999-2000 when Blacks composed 39.5 percent of the football players in Division I (40.3 percent in what then was known as Division I-A).

In the Football Championship Subdivision, the 2010-11 figures show that white players compose the majority at 47.2 percent (down from 47.6 the previous year), followed by Blacks at 44.1 percent (up from 43.9). The percentage of black football players in that subdivision has steadily increased from 38.5 percent in 1999-2000 to the current level.

The 2010-11 data also show that the highest concentration of black male student-athletes in Division I sports is in basketball (59.3 percent, down from 60.9 percent in 2009-10), followed by football (46.0), indoor track and field (26.3), and outdoor track and field (25.6).

Basketball also has the highest concentration of black females in Division I (50.6 percent), followed by bowling (34.2), indoor track (28.2) and outdoor track (27.5).

The percentages for Blacks in basketball also are higher than they were in the inaugural report when 55 percent of the male players and 35.7 percent of the female players were black.

Administrators and coaches

Updated research on the composition of NCAA member institutions’ administrative and coaching staffs since 1995 shows not only dramatic increases in opportunities but also a much broader demographic distribution of those opportunities.

The 2010-11 data show significant increases in the number of administrative personnel since that first report, primarily because of increases in NCAA membership but also because of expanding staffs at individual schools to reflect the growth in athletics participation overall (more than 440,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championship sports now compared to about 330,000 in 1995).

Those increases appear to be spread among a wider demographic. For example, there were 158 more athletics directors in 2010-11 than in 1995-96. But of that increase, women gained 63positions and ethnic minority males 33. White males gained 62

Similar distributions are seen elsewhere. With associate ADs, for example, the category grew by 1,434 positions over the last 16 years (by 1659 over the previous year alone), with 474 of those spots going to women and 112 to ethnic minority males. Assistant ADs gained 1,171 positions, with 531going to women and minorities.

That gradual broadening of the distribution has helped diversify athletics departments. While white males still represent the predominant demographic in many individual categories, the percentage gaps aren’t quite as dramatic. In 1995-96 (the first year the NCAA began collecting such data), white males composed 76.4 percent of the athletics directors at NCAA schools. In 2010-11, that percentage dropped to 71.0. Those figures include historically black institutions.

With historically black institutions excluded, the percentage of white male ADs went from 80.3 percent in 1995-96 to 74.6 percent in 2010-11. Associate AD percentages for white males went up slightly (from 57.7 to 59.6), but the assistant AD percentages also have leveled out somewhat, from 62.2 in 1995-96 to 58.9 in 2010-11.

In the coaching ranks, there were 19 head football coaches of color in 2010-11 (excluding historically black institutions), up from 15 the year before. In all divisions, the increase was from 22 to 29.

For head coaches in basketball (all divisions; excluding those at historically black institutions), the number of minority head coaches went from 1122to 141 on the men’s side and from 92to 127on the women’s between the base year and now.

The gender split among coaches of women’s basketball teams went from 3451male/537female in 1995-96 to 440male/584 female in 2010-11, which continues a trend for more male coaches being hired to lead women’s teams.

The 2010-11 data show only minimal gains for Blacks in the coaching ranks since 1995-96. The most significant are in Division I, where the percentage of black head coaches for men’s teams (historically black institutions excluded) has increased from 5.2 percent to 7.4 percent. In the revenue sports of football and men’s basketball, the increase has been from 13.1 to 14.7 percent.

The largest jump for black head coaches is in Division I women’s basketball, where the percentage has gone from 11.0 percent in 1995-96 to 14.6 percent in 2010-11.

Other findings

• Including historically black institutions, 57.1 percent of the athletics administrative positions reported by the membership are held by men and 42.9 percent are held by women. As for leadership positions, the number of female ADs, associate ADs and assistant ADs is 1,612 (30.9 percent), whereas in the base year of 1995-96, 661 (26.8 percent) of these positions were held by females.
• Including historically black institutions, 60.5 percent of head coaches of women’s teams are male, while 39.5 percent of women’s head coaches are female. In the base year, 57.2 percent of head coaches of women’s teams were held by men and 42.8 percent of women’s head coaches were female.
• In all sports among all three divisions, the highest percentage of male and female student-athletes was white (68.1 and 74.8, respectively, though both are down from 70.4 and 77.2 the previous year). The next highest percentage of student-athletes was black (18.2 for males and 11.2 for females).
• The percentage of black male student-athletes in all sports among all three divisions has increased from 16.2 percent in 1999-2000 to 18.2 percent in 2010-11. Black female student-athletes have increased from 9.3 to 11.2 percent in the same period.

Tables

Men’s sports student-athlete ethnicity percentages 1999-2011 (all three divisions)

Men’s sports student-athlete ethnicity percentages 1999-2011 (Division I)

Women’s sports student-athlete ethnicity percentages 1999-2011 (all three divisions)

Women’s sports student-athlete ethnicity percentages 1999-2011 (Division I)