Old problem, new solution? Can programs such as the NCAA's Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males boost the numbers of Black head coaches, athletic directors? - Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars 2002

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 11, 2002 by Pamela Burdman

"We want the person to have experience in all of the areas, so they can go out and talk to boosters and talk to the community," Ramapo's Marshall says.

For the most part, NCAA officials sidestep the question of whether the participants are actually lacking in the leadership skills being taught by the Institute -- or whether the real goal of the training is to mollify those who say there are no qualified minority applicants out there, a typical explanation given by university officials to explain why they haven't hired more minorities.

"There's a whole book of excuses of why people don't make it," says Charles Whitcomb, department chairman of Recreation and Hospitality Management at San Jose State University. "People are not qualified, they've not had experience, they've not been in the system long enough, they've not networked enough, they've not had the training, and on and on."

Whitcomb, until last year, chaired the NCAA's Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee (MOIC). "There were more excuses out there as to why it was not occurring than strategies as to how we can make it occur," he says. The excuses were no longer acceptable to the committee in terms of people being unprepared. If that were true, you would not have historically Black institutions with (Black) people who are administrators.

"We began to look at how do we move to try and change diversity in intercollegiate athletic administration. Let's not talk about why people are not moving, but how can we create an avenue and a pathway for people to move forward."

The Institute is not the first effort by the MOIC to diversify the athletics hierarchy. Since 1989, the organization has sponsored two programs for women and minorities. The Indianapolis headquarters houses an internship program for minorities that allows recent grads to gain experience in athletics. According to Rochelle Collins of the NCAA, 88 percent of the interns go on to full-time positions in college sports.

In addition, each year, 16 minorities and 16 women receive $6,000 scholarships to pursue sports-related majors in graduate school.

"The MOIC is like the NAACP," says Marshall, who succeeded Whitcomb as committee chairman. "We are kind of like the eyes and ears and the conscience of the NCAA ... in regards to the treatment of minority and women student-athletes, coaches, and administrators and officials."

Recognizing that the existing programs weren't going far enough, the MOIC pushed for the new program. The NCAA is spending $250,000 to fund the Institute. It focuses only on males partly because a sister organization, the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) has run a similar program for minorities and women since 1995. Now the NCAA is spending an additional $250,000 a year to support the women's institute as well.

Among participants in the first six years of the women's program, 52 percent -- and 47 percent of the minorities -- have advanced into more senior positions, according to Jennifer Alley, executive director of the NACWAA.