Black men on campus and on the field

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Nov 15, 2007 by Frank J. Matthews

The projected combined payout for the 2008 Bowl Championship Series is $170 million. Approximately $17 million will go to each of the 10 universities that participate in the Orange, Fiesta, Rose and Sugar bowls and the BCS National Championship.

It's a fact that led one panelist at a recent meeting of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics in Washington to proclaim that college basketball and football programs are in the business of entertainment, not education. This is becoming a popularly held belief as the money associated with college basketball and football continues to rise each year.

There are currently one Hispanic and six Black head football coaches out of the 119 BCS teams formally known as Division IA teams. The fact that minority head coaches represent only 6 percent of head coaches in a sport where approximately 50 percent of the players are Black is one of the many issues that the NCAA, along with the Black Coaches & Administrators group, is trying to address.

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Diverse took a recent ranking, The Associated Press' "Top 25" college football teams, (from the week of Oct. 14, 2007) and looked at the number and percentage of Black male enrollment on the respective campuses compared to what percentage they made up of Black males on athletic scholarships using 2005 data. We think you'll find the statistics interesting.

Statistics by Olivia Majesky-Pullmann

Black Male Students vs. Black Male Athletes: By the Numbers

Source: Diverse: Issues In Higher Education analysis of 2005 NCES,
IPEDS DATA

                                   BLACK MALE ENROLLMENT

                               Total--Black   Percent--Black
Institution                        Male            Male

Ohio State University             1,150            5.8%
University of South Florida       1,377            4.1%
Boston College                     265             5.7%
University of Oklahoma             521              5%
Louisiana State University         930             7.4%
University of South Carolina       913            11.3%
University of Oregon               149              2%
University of Kentucky             430             4.8%
West Virginia University           385              4%
University of California           306              3%
Virginia Polytechnic               656             5.2%
  Institute and State
  University
Arizona State University           603             3.2%
University of Southern             421             2.4%
  California
University of Kansas               343             3.3%
University of Missouri             471             4.4%
University of Hawaii                77             1.2%
Auburn University                  669              7%
The University of Texas            568             3.1%
The University of Tennessee        663              7%
University of Georgia              409             3.8%
Texas Tech University              418             3.3%
University of Cincinnati          1,071            11%
University of Michigan             753             6.2%
Kansas State University            301             3.1%

                               BLACK MALES ON ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIPS

                                 Total--Black   Percent--Black
Institution                          Male            Male

Ohio State University                 66             21%
University of South Florida           81             27%
Boston College                        45             30%
University of Oklahoma                92             40%
Louisiana State University            74             37%
University of South Carolina          92             42%
University of Oregon                  51             33%
University of Kentucky                55            25.5%
West Virginia University              57             33%
University of California              60            22.6%
Virginia Polytechnic                  72             39%
  Institute and State
  University
Arizona State University              54             27%
University of Southern                66            18.5%
  California
University of Kansas                  47             38%
University of Missouri                67             32%
University of Hawaii                  21             13%
Auburn University                     66            33.7%
The University of Texas               76            31.4%
The University of Tennessee           77            37.7%
University of Georgia                 66            37.7%
Texas Tech University                 58            30.4%
University of Cincinnati              77            38.3%
University of Michigan                68             26%
Kansas State University               59            32.4%