Lack of Diversity in Management & Coaching in Sports Essay

Words: 1392
Pages: 6

In recent history it has been evident that some of the most popularize sports in America have been dominated and overran by African American and other minority athletes. In turn when the coaching and management positions in sports are analyzed and broken down, the number of minority coaches and managers in sport are almost non-existent and have been since those sports organization became established. In 2006 Blacks made up about 14% of the population, 12% of all college enrollments, and nearly 24% of all collegiate scholarship athletes. In some major sports, such as basketball and football, blacks make up a great percentage of athletes participating. In 2005 over 55% of all collegiate athletes on football scholarships were Blacks and
A subconscious bias is happening within these organizations because the managers are taking the notion that we’re giving “them” a “fair” chance at the position because we are given them an interview just like everyone else. In reality its being done to help shift focus away from the lack of diversity and make it seem that things are much better in that department and that organizations are treating the issue with an open mind (Nordlinger, J., 25-26). On the issue of the lack of minority representation in the administration side of sport lacks even more than minority coaches. The hiring of administrators of color has been extremely limited and still continues to be today. In 1999 NCAA reported a combined percentage of minority administrators in position is a mere 10%, which includes all areas of the administrator sector in NCAA D-I sports. This statistic includes both women and men which shows that representation of minorities have been scarce both on and off the field in NCAA D-I sports. The biggest concern with the lack of minorities in top leadership positions in collegiate sports starts with top-level managers themselves such as college presidents, athletic directors, and conference commissioners not aggressively pursuing minorities for leadership roles. This not happening will continue to bring up the same issues about underrepresentation in sport period. Putting more minorities in position will lead to more and more minorities