Even my cynical, questioning-of-all-things-teleological self was impressed by this report about the increase in the hiring of minority female coaches in women's basketball. Three years ago the group Black Coaches and Administrators began tracking the hiring of minority women* with the help of Richard Lapchick of University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. Lapchick and the Institute are known for the issuance of various report cards, which detail how well or poorly various sport associations (professional, intercollegiate, etc.) are doing in terms of creating and maintaining racially diverse and welcoming environments.
There are now 23 minority coaches in women's DI basketball; up from 8 three years ago when the hiring report cards started. Eighteen of those 23 coaches are women.
What the article did not say and I am somewhat interested in is how many of those hirings are of women who were already head coaches at the DI level, versus at different divisions and/or former assistant coaches at DI schools. Obviously there has been a net gain. But there are also head coaches going from one DI school to another a la Nikki Caldwell who left UCLA at the end of last season to take the job at LSU. I don't think this so-called lateral move should diminish the score/grade of an institution. It's just a stat I would be interested in knowing. I think it speaks to issues like social and professional networks and training.
On the not-so-good side, it looks like the number of minority coaches in men's basketball is decreasing. There was a 4 percent drop in the number of minority coaches in DI men's basketball.
The BCA would like to see some kind of rule like the NFL's Rooney Rule in place in intercollegiate athletics.
* The article keeps saying minority women, but is that because people are afraid to say black? Or is this report really tracking all racial minorities?
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