The ABIS Watch List shows plenty
This occasional series will highlight Black coaches at all levels of sport.
This week: The 4th annual ABIS Black coaches watchlist.
According to the NCAA, the number of Black head coaches has grown by 31% in the past decade, with the largest growth in Division III (48%) during this time.
Yet in Division I, where there’s barely over 1,000 Black head coaches, 15% of all DI coaches — it doesn’t appear that progress has been widely achieved. Historically Black head coaches “faced more obstacles to reach the top,” said a recent article in “Revolt.”
“The 2024-25 season has been a disappointment for North Carolina,” said a recent Fayetteville Observer article on Tar Heels Head Coach Hubert Davis, who like Ben Johnson was hired to his first head coaching job. “Is he the right person to continue to lead one of college basketball’s true bluebloods?”
Morgan State Men’s Coach Kevin Broadus told the MSR, “I hate to see our Black coaches” get fired “because there are so few of us…”
At current count, at least 15 Black men’s head coaches were fired and two stepped down. Only around 5 Black coaches have found new employment.
Even in the current climate where all references to diversity, inclusion and equity are being scrubbed off websites and silenced in almost every facet of American life since January, there are still some of us who are not scared to speak about its importance, especially in coaching.
“Diversity is important,” Jermaine Woods, the Coppin State women’s head women’s basketball coach, told me at the MEAC tournament shortly after Johnson was fired at Minnesota two weeks ago. “Everybody needs diversity. How much diversity do we need? That’s up to the athletic directors and the administrators to decide that.
“The best-qualified candidates should always have a shot at the job no matter what color they are,” Woods continued. “I appreciate the opportunity that I have. I’m a HBCU guy and love it where I am.”
Howard Sinker, the former Minnesota Star Tribune editor, asked me for comment for his Sports Take newsletter after Ben Johnson was fired at Minnesota two weeks ago. I told him, “I am always concerned about the local media and elsewhere who act like pseudo-search committees and float names openly and boldly who they feel are excellent candidates — who often aren’t Black.”
The 2024-25 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Coaches Watch List by the Advancement of Blacks in Sports (ABIS) released last week continues to stress the importance of racial equity in sports, especially at this time when coaches are being fired and hired.
“During this time of the year,” said ABIS Founder-CEO Gary Charles, “our committee really takes a hard look at coaches who are prepared and ready for their first head coaching position or those who desire to transition to the next level.”
This year’s MBB list includes 16 Black mid-major head coaches, and 20 Black assistant coaches. On the women’s side there are 15 Black HCs (10 females, five males) and 25 Black assistants (18 females and seven males).
Among the listed coaches are MBB HCs Daniyal Robinson (Cleveland State) and James Jones (Yale), both featured in the MSR’s “Coaching While Black” recurring series, and WBB Assistant Wendale Farrow.
While many are suggesting we stop talking about the importance of diversity, discussing this at every opportunity is so much more needed these days.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.