Despite the current anti-DEI climate, it is still imperative to point out that race and gender inequity must be addressed in college sport.
The Women in College Coaching Report Card (WCCRC) 2024-25, released last week by the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center, helps to spotlight such longstanding issues. The executive summary pointed out that it “documents the number and percentage of women in sport coaching positions. We let the data tell the story.”
Let’s start locally: In the state’s two Division I schools, Minnesota has just one Black female head coach, women’s tennis Lois Arterberry, and St. Thomas has none.
The WCCRC focused on seven conferences: Big Ten, Big 12, American Athletic Conference (AAC), Big East, Pac-12, and Southeastern Conference (SEC).
White coaches comprise the majority (873 of 1,056) of head coaching positions, and Blacks and women of color continue “dramatically under-represented” (79, 7.5%).
The ACC has 20 women of color HCs; 16 Big Ten; 13 Big 12; and 12 each in the AAC and SEC.
Wrestling (100%), squash (50%), basketball (25.5%) and tennis (10.9%) have the highest percentages of BIPOC women head coaches in 27 sports; 11 sports had zero women HCs of color.
The average yearly head coach turnover during the 11 years covered by the Tucker Center report card was 9.3%, but this year it’s 11.3% (119 of 1,056) head coaches of D1 women’s teams turned over. Furthermore, 44 White women were hired in 2024-25 as opposed to 10 BIPOC.
Sports geographer and educator Dr. Jen Fry, who spoke to the MSR earlier this month, stressed that now with the transfer portal and NIL in college sport, Black female coaches could be in a more precarious position than ever before.
“You’re supposed to be winning fast, winning now,” she pointed out. “What I do potentially think is that there’s going to be this idea of higher, greater expectations. We’ve all seen White coaches keep their jobs through bad records and bad headlines.
“We only get a finite amount of opportunities [as Black female coaches],” said Fry.
Although the data might not interest non-sports folk, or not be given full attention by the mainstream media, the WCCRC’s seven-point purpose, which includes “bring awareness, while providing an evidence-based starting point, for a national discussion on this important issue,” is important to notice.
Will Garcia get drafted?
The 2025 NBA Draft begins Wednesday June 25.
The MSR during last week’s pre-draft media call asked ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas his thoughts on Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia. “I think it’ll be interesting to see whether he’s selected in the second round,” he responded. “I certainly think he has an opportunity to be [drafted], but it’s more likely, at least in my view, that he’s probably going to be an undrafted free agent after the draft is over next week.”
“He’s got good versatility. He can play inside and out. He gets to the glass. He had a really nice career,” said Bilas on Garcia. “Sometimes that can be a better thing for a player [to not get drafted], because then you get to choose. His phone will start ringing at the end of the second round if he’s not selected.”
Finally…
Former Norfolk State star guard and MEAC Player of the Year Diamond Johnson is among 32 players, including over 20% of the players selected in the 2025 WNBA draft, that will be competing on eight different teams in the 3XBA (3×3 Basketball Association) two-day tournament in Spokane, Wash. on Friday June 27 and Saturday June 28. Last week Johnson signed to play pro ball in China later this year.
Pluto TV and All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN) will stream the event live. AWSN, co-founded by Whoopi Goldberg, recently joined Pluto TV to launch FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television), streaming TV without a paid subscription.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.