Employment Trends Are Not Always A Bad Thing

college level, the hiring of coaches is a key responsibility for athletic directors that can be subject

If states are the laboratories of democracy, then sports are the arena in which it is tested. This book serves as a review of racial integration and the changing dynamics in sports from 1890 - 1980. Charles Martin aims for the reader to understand why it was common place for white southerners to compete against “non-black” ethnic minorities (E.G. Native Americans, Chinese), but an issue when even a single African American was on an opposing team. Benching Jim Crow explains to the reader that the persistence of segregation lay with overarching cultural mentalities left over from the Civil War, but shifts in position came from external (financial), and internal (students and players). Though offering little insight into the legal and political impacts of Jim Crow itself, Martin paints a detailed, but redundant, narrative of the rise and fall of Jim Crow in athletics.

As difficult as it was to provide an answer to that question, the simple response was, ‘that’s just the way it is.’ However taking a deeper look into the matter, why must it be that way? Why must there be so very few minorities as leaders of a predominantly black and Hispanic sport? Researching this topic will allow me to get a more in depth explanation to provide my sons who see very few coaches that resembles their father in a NFL they enjoy to watch and play. What are my sons’ chances of eventually becoming a minority head coach in a league that have so few? How will be my sons’ view the

It all started with an email seeking freshman male in his coaching and administration program. The 2012 graduate of UConn’s Sport Administration and coaching program, William Aloia, says this future success as the Associate Athletic Director for The College of St. Rose started out by almost” falling into his lap”. The New Jersey native began his undergraduate experience with two Division-I parents, and like an abundance of people he knew that working in sport was something he wanted to do. Previously a part of the Kinesiology department under the late Joe Marrone, Will jumped on the opportunity posted through an email and started his freshman year as a basketball manager for the very successful UConn’s basketball program. He explains how this experience “opened his door up”. Will states; “once I started at UConn working with the women’s basketball program and being around collegiate athletics at such a high level it’s really something in itself, and unbelievable experience. I knew it was for me, I didn’t know which part for sure, but I knew this was something I wanted to do.” What Will realized very quickly realized about working in sport is that often times it is a thankless job. However, that did not stop him from finishing his undergraduate career as a four-year manager for the basketball team. The motivation for Will early in his career has been a two-dimensional illustration of success.

The lack of minority head coaches in college football is a problem the NCAA is trying to tackle. Just around 11 percent of FBS head coaches are African American, while about 57 percent of college football players are black, according to a recent ESPN report. With the hiring of Smith, Illinois is taking a step in the right direction, looking to get to the top of the Big Ten under his

Racial preference has indisputably favored Caucasian males in society. Recently this dynamic has been debated in all aspects of life, including college admission. Racial bias has intruded on the students’ rights to being treated fairly. Admitting students on merit puts the best individuals into the professional environment. A university’s unprejudiced attitude towards race in applicants eliminates biases, empowers universities to harness the full potential of students’ intellect, and gives students an equal chance at admission.

The treatment of minority athletes, particularly African Americans has been a grave issue in American sports for decades. More than fifty years ago, to be a colored person playing a so- called “white sport,” meant that it was an unfortunate fact that inequality, prejudices and racial discrimination came along with that territory, and it is also an unfortunate fact that some of those racial tensions are yet in full, modernized effect today. African- American starting five, or starting lineman, being told what to do, when, and how to do it by their Caucasian coaches, and general managers, are in sync with past century notions of African- American slaves being under total dominion and authority of

Background of race discrimination in the National Football League’s (NFL) head coach and manager’s hiring process

Chavella T. Pittman " The Narratives of African American Faculty at a Predominantly White University.

In the past, black coaches were moved slowly up the ranks than white counterparts, despite equal performance and skill sets. White head coaches

African American males have excelled in many collegiate sports today. The main sports they are funneled in to excel are football, basketball, and track. In the past, African American men could participate in the sports but were not given respect. Now young African American men are being recruited for their hard work and God-given talents to play on a collegiate team. The demographics of African American athletes in sports especially division I has increased over time. In a 2012 report, African American males compromised 22 percent of all of division I athletics, in football 43.2 percent, and in basketball 57.2 percent (Lapchick, Hoff, and Kaiser 2013). Also, when they progress to the next level demographics show that approximately

Staffing a school is the most important responsibility and service a principal has to attend and to provide a school. Students have a right to be taught by highly qualified teachers and in this case a highly qualified basketball coach. The case study #16 presents a situation where the principal has to begin recruiting to fill a basketball coaching position that has been long filled by two brothers that are ready to retire due to health reasons. The principal feels the pressure to have to fill this position, but finds it a bit challenging for a number of reasons—salary considered too low, not enough interest in “girls’ teams by the community, racial and gender concerns, and scandals in nearby district concerning males coaching girls’ teams. An athletic director for the high school suggests that she look into asking the parents of the players. (Kirschmann, 1996)

There is still a dark cloud that the motive behind there is not a significant amount of progress towards minorities as head coaches is that their skills are not sufficient to teams. In order for coaches in the NFL to move up the coaching ranks it is no different from any other pro sport such as the NBA. It is about catching a break at the perfect time and having the right skills to be the person that a team feels is qualified to get the job done. The interview process is quite monotonous no matter the skin color of a candidate that is interviewing for head coaching position in any professional sport. According to Collins (2007), it is considered a “dog and pony show” (p. 897). There is a significant amount of truth that a white assistant

CRT utilizes narratives to provide real life accounts of the experiences of people of color (Taylor, 2006), and these narratives provide voices for the voiceless and nameless (Lynn & Parker, 2006). People of color are marginalized and isolated in academia, and these narratives are crucial for whites to understand the experiences of minority faculty members at PWIs. For example, one African American was denied tenure because her white chairman thought her research lacked rigor (Turner et al., 2011). She reminded her chairman about the college’s mission to promote diversity and multiculturalism. However, he stated that he was not a champion of affirmative action. Thereby, this white male upheld the white supremacy of society by denying tenure

March 6th, 1961 Affirmative Action policies in higher education were implemented (Infoplease). Affirmative Action was designed to provide equal access to universities for historically underrepresented minorities. The argument of whether Affirmative Action should be decimated is a simple one. Students who have the academic credentials and earn their way into college deserve to be accepted. For no reason should previously excluded minorities gain unfair leverage in an attempt to “right past wrongs”. But with Affirmative Action banned in only eight states, we are left with two questions; how exactly Affirmative Action affects the culture within universities to have it seen as an unjust policy, and can diversity continue to survive without this program.