White Coaches Research Articles

The Downstream Consequences of Race-Related Managerial Job Insecurity: Insights From College Basketball Coaching

We examine how in men’s college basketball coaching, race-related managerial job insecurity trickles down to negatively affect the careers of the subordinates who work for them. Using panel data from a randomly selected group of assistant basketball coaches working under the most prestigious and endowed governing body of collegiate sports in the United States—the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI)—we find that, in men’s college basketball coaching, subordinate White coaches are less likely to be involuntarily dismissed than their non-White, predominantly Black, counterparts because non-White subordinates disproportionately work for racially minoritized, predominantly Black, head coaches who themselves face greater job insecurity. We also find involuntary dismissal correlates with whether assistant coaches leave the ranks of NCAA DI men’s college basketball coaching and explains the significant interaction between race and a teams’ performance relative to their respective conferences. These findings illustrate how race-related managerial job insecurity trickles down to negatively affect the job opportunities of their subordinates and, because of homophily, perpetuates racial disadvantage.

A Critical Analysis of Coaches’ Perceptions of Athletic Department Involvement in Team-Related Social Media Activism

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) coaches are among the most visible leaders on campuses. With recent calls for diversity efforts, coaches are faced with decisions regarding supporting or promoting their teams’ and athletes’ racial justice actions on team social media accounts. However, sport information staff often manage the team’s social media strategy and may not reflect the coaches’ goals. Framed by the theory of racialized organizations, we examined NCAA coaches’ attitudes toward their athletic department’s role in social media activism on their team pages. We surveyed 174 coaches across divisions and investigated differences based on coaches’ gender, race, and division. Findings suggest that coaches supported activism but were less confident in the role of the athletic department in posting about racial justice on team accounts. Interpreting results through the theory of racialized organizations, coaches, specifically White coaches, may view their college athletic departments as race-neutral organizations. There is opportunity for those managing team platforms to further promote social justice messaging to demonstrate organizational support.

Racism and black male student-athlete experiences in a Canadian University

ABSTRACT This study investigates anti-Black racism and the experiences of Black male student-athletes. Specifically, using counter-stories we examine Teshawn’s experiences as a Black male former student-athlete on the varsity football team. In doing so, we also draw on the experiences of other Black student-athletes through a publicly commissioned report detailing incidents of anti-Black racism at the same university. The first composite counter-story ‘Get Out of the Drill!’ highlights racism by the white coaches and the implications for Black student-athletes in their current and future athletic opportunities. The second story, ‘Don’t Listen to Them. Block the Noise!’ highlights racism by the white coaches and white teammates and the negative implications it has on the Black male student-athletes’ academic success. Finally, the third story ‘Racist Jokes and Slurs are Never-ending’ emphasizes the declining mental health and fatigue of Black male student-athletes as reports of racism are ignored and mishandled by the institution.

How Racial Tasking Leads to Inequitable Financial Remuneration Among Power-5 College Football Coaches

While occupying a significant number of coaching positions in Power-5 college football, Black coaches are routinely overlooked as head coach or coordinator candidates. Although Black Power-5 football coaches generate significant value for their respective teams, such stagnation within the promotion and hiring of Black assistant coaches raises concerns about whether Black coaches receive equitable compensation for the value they generate. Utilizing Ray’s theory of racialized organizations, this study examined the race and salary of Power-5 football coaches to determine whether Black and White coaches receive equitable compensation. Results reveal that while Black coaches create inordinate value in recruiting prospective athletes, compensation among White Power-5 football coaches is exponentially greater than their Black counterparts. The economic value of Black and White stakeholders (e.g., coaches and athletes) to the college football enterprise is also discussed.

Diversity in the global coaching community: Exploring race, gender, identity and belonging

This paper examines data from a global survey of coaches (N=1380) undertaken by the research team in collaboration with EMCC Global, and with the support of a wide range of professional coaching providers, coaching schools and global coaching providers. This paper focuses on diversity within the global coach community, including race, gender and sexual orientation. There were seven hypotheses based on three broad topics: (a) Minorities and marginalised groups in the coaching community (gender, race, region) earn significantly different incomes. (b) Coaches of diversity (gender, race) have different preferences for digital coaching. (c) Coaches of diversity (gender, race) hold different perspectives on future trends in coaching. These were expressed in the seven hypotheses: (i) There will be a statistically different level of income generated by white coaches and coaches of colour. (ii) There will be a statistically different level of income generated by female and male coaches. (iii) There will be a statistically different level of income generated by coaches based within different regions. (iv) There will be a statistically different preference for digital coaching by white coaches and coaches of colour. (v) There will be a statistically different preference for digital coaching by female and male coaches. (vi) There will be a statistically different perspective on future trends in coaching by white coaches and coaches of colour. (vii) There will be a statistically different perspective on future trends in coaching by female and male coaches. The results indicated that region was a significant factor in explaining incomes, but that gender and race were not statistically significant factors. Secondly, there were gender differences in the use of digital coaching. Female coaches or coaches who did not identify as White were more likely to be engaged in digital coaching pre-Covid compared with other coaches, but this gap has narrowed since the global lockdown has drawn more coaches towards digital. Finally, the ‘future trends’ data highlights a number of differences based on gender and race, including the belief by female coaches that regular supervision is essential for professional coaches. The study has implications in terms of acknowledging the flexibility of coaching as a fair pay career for women and secondly the need to make coach training more available for coaches of colour through bursaries offered by providers and accrediting bodies.

White privilege in Canadian high school sport: investigating white coaches’ perspectives on social justice issues

ABSTRACT Sport constitutes an important setting in which to study whiteness given ongoing issues related to power, privilege, and oppression. The purpose of the study was to examine white privilege in Canadian high school sport by investigating white coaches’ perspectives on social justice issues. A total of 463 high school coaches who self-identified as white completed an online survey. Results showed how coaches who had a greater awareness of white privilege in society had more favourable attitudes towards social justice, higher importance attributed to climate change issues, greater awareness of prejudicial attitudes against the LGBT community, and a higher propensity to engage in antiracist behaviours. Moderating effects for gender identity were also found. Moving forward, white privilege should continue to be studied in coaching to better understand how it is entangled with social justice.

Youth Sport Coaches’ Perceptions of Sexually Inappropriate Behaviors and Intimate Coach-Athlete Relationships

ABSTRACT Although sexual harassment and abuse in youth sport have received increasing research attention worldwide, less is known about youth coaches’ perceptions of sexually inappropriate behaviors and intimate relationships with athletes. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine youth sport coaches’ perceptions of behaviors that can lead to potential sexual harassment and abuse, as well as to understand how coaches perceive coach-athlete sexual relationships. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 200 male coaches from various U.S. youth sport programs. Overall, a majority of coaches indicated behaviors associated with sexist comments and verbal/physical advances as sexually inappropriate. There was, however, a lack of consensus regarding what constitutes sexually inappropriate behaviors when the behavior was instruction-related/contextually dependent. Results were mixed regarding the perceptions of coach-athlete sexual relationships, with a notable number of coaches agreeing that sexual intimacies with young athletes (17 years or younger) are not always harmful and should not be prohibited. Based on a regression analysis, white coaches were more likely to exhibit negative perceptions about coach-athlete sexual relationships compared to ethnically diverse coaches. Overall, these findings warrant the development or reevaluation of policies and interventions aimed at preventing sexual harassment and abuse in the youth sport environment. Continued research is needed to better understand youth sport coaches as the perpetrators of sexual harassment and abuse.

Looking the Part: Stereotypicality in Appearance Among White Professionals Predicts Leadership Attainment and Perceived Leadership Suitability.

This project explores the effects of racial phenotypic stereotypicality, or the degree to which a person's appearance is perceived as typical of their racial group, on leadership outcomes. Building on research showing that people hold an image of the ideal leader as a White person, we propose that looking more typically White may facilitate leadership attainment. In Study 1, which used a sample of American college football coaches (N = 1,106), White (vs. Black) coaches were more likely to occupy leadership roles. Furthermore, within race, stereotypicality positively predicted occupying a leadership or head-coach role among White professionals (and negatively predicted occupying a head-coach role among Black professionals). Study 2 elucidated a possible mechanism by showing a causal effect of stereotypicality on perceived suitability for leadership among Whites. These findings advance theorizing on the White-leader link and have implications for the ability of people of color to access lucrative professional roles.

Race and Occupational Mobility in the National Football League

The Rooney Rule was implemented in the National Football League (NFL) in 2003 to increase levels of employment for ethnic-minority coaches by requiring teams within the league to interview candidates of color for head coaching and executive level positions. However, only three coaches of color were employed at the beginning of the 2020 season. Framed within the larger context of occupational mobility, the present study aims to identify mobility trends for white coaches and coaches of color and analyzes the root causes for the difficulties that candidates of color experience when seeking higher-level positions within NFL organizations. Results illuminate a variety of institutional issues that exist within the NFL and allow for the development of recommendations that are useful for scholars and practitioners alike.

America’s Race-Based Caste Structure: Its Impact in College and Professional Sports

Racial inequities in college and professional sports remain prevalent and persistent despite the awareness of such inequities by those with the power to effectuate change. This Article proposes that explanations frequently offered for the slow pace of progress often fail to account for the hierarchy derived from a race-based caste system embedded in American society. Relying on the work of author Isabel Wilkerson, Part II describes major pillars of America’s race-based caste structure. Part III examines how stereotypes of Blacks’ presumed intellectual inferiority and a lack of fitness for leadership roles adversely impact their access to positions of power in both college and professional sports. Part IV discusses how the caste-system hierarchy and its accompanying mindset manifests in the academic marginalization of Black college athletes and the transfer of revenue disproportionately generated by them to predominantly White coaches, athletic administrators, and athletes in non-revenue generating sports. This Article discusses the limited effectiveness of legal doctrine, including anti-discrimination laws and contract law principles, to significantly diminish the above-referenced racial inequities in college and professional sport. In addition, it proposes specific policies that may assist in achieving greater racial equity in sport. It concludes, however, that a necessary step in moving toward greater racial equity in college and professional sports is an honest recognition that systemic racial inequities are, in part, a product of a caste-system mindset.

Colin in Black and White

Colin in Black and White

A shame of inches: Are teams with black head coaches more heavily penalized in Division 1 college football?

Background A popular line of media discourse has sought to provide explanations for college football's lack of diversity in the coaching ranks. A related effort has recently sought to explain why black coaches are faced with institutional barriers to success in athletic fields. While research on race and the sociology of sport has frequently focused on racial characteristics and expectations of players for on-field penalization, this literature neglected to examine racialized leadership positions such as coaching. Further, the vast majority of this line of literature that has examined racial leadership has explored the effects of race on hiring and promotion decisions off the field rather than on-field dynamics. Objective This article fills this gap by exploring the relationship between the race of college football coaches and the level of on-field penalization their teams incur. Are teams coached by black coaches more heavily penalized than those coaches by non-black coaches? Methods Using data from a merged unique data set and a two-step approach comprising two statistical procedures, we explore this question empirically. We first examine the mean levels of penalties at the game level using a comparison of means, followed by a panel analysis of penalties at the yearly-school level. Results In our comparison of means across all games played between white and black coaches in the 2019/2020 college football season, we find that black coaches are more heavily penalized than white coaches in terms of both penalties per game as well as penalty yardage. Findings of our longitudinal analysis covering all Division 1 college football teams from the college football playoff era (2014/2015 season until the 2019/2020 season) reveal that teams coached by black coaches receive more penalties per game than do teams coached by non-black coaches. Conclusion To conclude, we discuss implications for these findings and suggest ameliorative prescriptions to combat bias in college sports. We contextualize our findings within the context of racialized organizational processes in college sports.

Antitrust Anachronism: The Interracial Wealth Transfer in Collegiate Athletics Under the Consumer Welfare Standard

Under an illusory nexus to education, intercollegiate athletics in the United States represents a multibillion-dollar enterprise that extracts economic rents from the majority Black athlete labor to the benefit of overwhelmingly White constituencies. Under the aegis of “amateurism,” member universities of the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) collude to fix maximum athlete compensation at cost-of-attendance and strip athletes of the economic rights over their own name, image, or likeness. While this anticompetitive restraint encumbers all athletes competing under the NCAA umbrella, it imposes a disparate impact on Black and other minority athletes who represent a majority of the labor in the largest revenue sports: football and basketball. Although White coaches are the most visible beneficiaries of this anticompetitive restraint, the scope of amateurism’s interracial distributional effects has largely remained uncovered. This article seeks to fill this gap in the literature. Leveraging data from multiple sources, including institutional financial reports and the NCAA Demographics Database from 2007–2020, this article quantifies the NCAA’s wealth transfer away from primarily Black athlete labor to institutions and overwhelmingly White constituencies. Under the NCAA’ restraint, we estimate that Black football and men’s and women’s basketball athletes at the Division I Power 5 Conference level have lost approximately $17 billion to $21 billion in compensation from 2005 to 2019 or roughly $1.2–$1.4 billion per year. The antitrust status quo’s failure to enjoin the NCAA’s collusive wage-fixing restraint, which causes such obvious antitrust injury and harm to athlete labor, underscores the fundamental shortcomings of using the consumer-welfare standard as the exclusive lodestar to investigate and enjoin anticompetitive conduct; it also exposes the divergence between “amateurism” as described in Board of Regents and the modern-day realities of college athletics.

Towards a culturally relevant sport pedagogy: lessons learned from African Australian refugee-background coaches in grassroots football

ABSTRACT There is a body of research that indicates the need for community-driven and culturally responsive pedagogies in sport-based interventions. There is much to learn from the pedagogical approaches and experiences of African Australian refugee-background coaches who work with refugee-background young people toward acceptance and affirmation of their cultural and racial identities. This paper explores African Australian refugee-background coaches’ pedagogies in working with African Australian refugee-background young people in a grassroots football programme in Melbourne. Participants included an African Australian refugee-background young woman and four coaches. Data collection spanned a six-month period and included observations and semi-structured interviews. The findings were analysed using Ladson-Billings’ [Ladson-Billings, G. (1995b). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465; Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers : Successful teachers of African American children. Jossey-Bass Publishers; Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: A.k.a. The Remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 74–84. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.84.1.p2rj131485484751] conceptualisation of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. The study identified three main themes. First, the coaches considered themselves ‘barrier breakers’: they were able to connect the African Australian refugee-background young people to different resources in and outside of sports contexts to develop their success in football and in life. Second, the coaches considered the sport programme ‘a family’ where they were willing to nurture and support cultural competence by sharing power with the participants and their community. Third, the coaches created spaces for young people to develop awareness that allowed them to critique some of the social inequities experienced. Future studies should continue to move beyond a focus on predominantly white and middle-class providers and coaches in sport-based interventions. By including and foregrounding the voices of coaches who have diverse experiences, more diverse cultural knowledges are validated, enabling the translation of this knowledge into more culturally responsive sport programmes.

Gendered Racial Stereotypes and Coaching Intercollegiate Athletic Teams: The Representation of Black and Asian Women Coaches on U.S. Women’s and Men’s Teams

The purpose of this study was to examine the representation of Black and Asian women coaches on women’s and men’s intercollegiate athletic teams. Through the theoretical lens of gendered racial stereotypes associating Black individuals with masculinity and Asian individuals with femininity, the authors hypothesized that, among women coaches, Black women coaches would be better represented on men’s teams and Asian women coaches better represented on women’s teams. The authors collected archival data from the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA) Demographics Database, including data on the racial and gender demographics of all coaches across each season available (2007/2008 through 2016/2017). The final dataset included aggregated data from 11 seasons and all sports across three divisions (n = 2540 teams, 625,119 coaches). The results of two-way analyses of covariance showed that Black women coaches (n = 17,983) were better represented within men’s teams and were more likely to be employed as head coaches than as assistant coaches on these teams. The results did not provide evidence of the Asian-femininity linkage for the 1778 Asian women coaches we identified. Among White coaches, women (n = 134,696) were more likely to serve on women’s teams than on men’s. The findings reveal that gender and race intersect to shape opportunities for women coaches, suggesting that efforts are required to minimize the potential influence of gendered racial stereotypes in intercollegiate athletics.

“The ‘blazer boys’ were getting all the chances”: South Asian men’s experiences of cricket coaching in England

In the United Kingdom, recent research documents an over-representation of White participants, coaches, and decision makers within sporting contexts. In contrast Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups are under-represented at all levels of sport: from players, coaches, and managers in sport governance. Recent research into the experiences of BAME men and women in sports coaching also shows that inclusive sporting environments, including a diverse workforce, are highly motivating for entry into, and progression through, the coaching pathway. However, significant and powerful barriers exist that prevent the progression of BAME individuals into higher level coaching qualifications and job roles. These barriers lead to the privileging of White men and are therefore described as both raced and gendered. This paper is based on a research project commissioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2014 to explore South Asian male players’ and coaches’ experiences of coaching and progression through coaching pathways. We draw on data collected from 33 semi-structured interviews carried out with a sample of male South Asian players and coaches, from two different geographical areas - London and Yorkshire - and from a sample of clubs with different levels of ethnic diversity. Our analysis showed that South Asian players participate in an environment and culture where they are unlikely to engage in coaching and, even when they do, will not feel supported in progressing to higher roles of influence and power.

Political Blackness in Multiracial Britain

Political Blackness in Multiracial Britain

Climbing the ladder or getting stuck: An optimal matching analysis of racial differences in college football coaches’ job-level career patterns

To better understand the documented racial inequality in access to high status positions within the American labor market, this study investigates racial differences in job-level career patterns within the college football coaching profession. Using data on the career histories of 319 college football coaches from the 2009 season, this study examines whether black and white coaches have different job-level mobility patterns throughout their careers using optimal matching sequence analysis. Descriptive results identify five common career trajectories within the college football coaching profession that are distinguished by their relative levels of job mobility and stagnation, and the amount of time spent at the lower college and high school levels of competition before reaching the highest level of college football. Subsequent analyses indicate that white coaches are more likely to follow upward career trajectories while black coaches are more likely to get stuck in careers characterized by low-level positions. These racial differences are due, in part, to coaches’ experience as football athletes (i.e. position played). However, even given the same pre-career experience, racial differences emerge in the likelihood of traversing mobile or stagnant career pathways. The results point to particularistic processes operating to perpetuate racial inequality within the college football coaching profession similar to those that have been shown to operate in other high-status labor market contexts.

Race, Supervisorial Change, and Job Outcomes: Employability Resilience in NCAA Division I College Basketball Coaching

We examine how race affects the employment status of subordinates following a job change by their immediate supervisors. We test whether racial homophily between a subordinate and a supervisor affects the odds of being let go. We also consider whether a racial match between an incoming head coach and assistant affects whether assistants retain their assistant coaching position. Data for these analyses come from a unique data set that explores what happens to 704 NCAA Division I college basketball assistant coaches after the head coach leaves the school. Logistic regression analyses confirm the benefit of working for a white head coach as this decreases the likelihood of being let go, compared to more positive outcomes such as following the coach to a new school, being internally promoted or retained after the head coach's departure. Furthermore, racial homophily with incoming head coaches insulates subordinates from having to search for new employment by increasing the likelihood of assistants being retained.

Transitions to the Top

This study investigates the effects of job-level, task-based, segregation on racial differences in promotions to executive positions within the college football coaching profession. Using event-history methods to analyze the careers of 323 college football coaches, the results suggest that, relative to White coaches, Black coaches’ career prospects are harmed by their disproportionate placement into jobs that inhibit mobility (i.e., noncentral positions) and their differential returns from occupying jobs that induce mobility (i.e., central positions). These findings shed light on processes related to job-level racial segregation, particularism, and racialization in the coaching profession as well as more general, high-status, labor market contexts.