College sports: by the numbers - Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars 2003 - Illustration

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 10, 2003

A glance at college athletics indicates that while Blacks make up more than a fifth of all Division 1 student-athletes, Black representation among student-athletes in Division 1 revenue sports teams is slightly more than half of the total. The high proportion of Black student-athletes in Division 1 sports, which is 324 schools, contrasts dramatically with the lagging representation of Black head coaches at all 1,034 NCAA colleges, especially for Black women head coaches.

Although Black men hold 8.2 percent of all head coaching jobs for men's teams, Black women, in comparison, hold a scant 3.2 percent of head coaching positions for women's teams. In fact, Black men hold 5 percent of the head coaching positions on women's teams.