By Antonya English, Times Staff Writer
Friday, May 27, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG — In the three years since the Black Coaches and Administrators began monitoring the hiring of minority coaches for women's college basketball, the numbers have risen annually, prompting the organization to declare during its annual convention on Friday that the report card is making a difference. Of the 18 openings in Division I women's college basketball this past year, five were filled with black women.
"By any standard of measurement I'd say this year was a successful year," said Dr. Richard E. Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at UCF who oversees the BCA's hiring report card programs. "Eleven out of the 18 schools that were evaluated got A's for their efforts, 14 of 16 in 2008-09, and 11 of 19 in 2007-08 all got A's. Obviously that means that you can get an A even if you don't hire a person (of color). The process we're emphasizing is getting the best people in the room (for interviews), and that includes people of color, and by doing that we're going to see the numbers change."
During the cycle of the past two report cards (three years), the numbers have risen from eight minority coaches to 23, including 18 black women.
Men's basketball may be next on the agenda, with the percentage of black Division I coaches having dropped from 25 to 21 recently.
"A four percent drop is a significant drop," Lapchick said. "Everybody just assumed that it was so wide open that nobody's paid attention, including us."
However, Lapchick and BCA executive director Floyd Keith said much remains to be done. The BCA continues to push for a "Rooney Rule" in collegiate sports, which would require schools to interview minority candidates when they have a coaching or administrative opening.
"Probably one of the most disappointing things in my professional career is that college sports is the worst offender," Lapchick said. "We're the worst at hiring women, we're the worst at hiring people of color, and hopefully the type of efforts the BCA is making with the hiring report cards is going to begin to change that."
SMART HONORED: VCU head coach Shaka Smart, formerly a Florida assistant, was awarded the Fritz Pollard BCA Male Coach of the Year Award on Friday, and said he's been blessed to have been mentored by some top-notch coaches on his way to becoming a head coach. Smart, who led VCU to its first Final Four after starting in a play-in game, said he was reminded during that improbable NCAA run that anything is possible if you believe in yourself.
"I had a coach who always told me 'Believe in yourself unbelievably,' " Smart said. "That's what I did this year."
Antonya English can be reached at english@sptimes.com.