Majority of the staff at Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools are white and male, according to a University of Central Florida study.
The study focused on race and gender of university presidents, conference commissioners, athletic directors, faculty athletic representatives, head football coaches, assistant coaches and student-athletes among others at all 125 FBS institutions.
The study found that in the 2013-14 academic year, white's accounted for 88.8 percent of university presidents, 84.8 percent of athletic directors and 100 percent of conference commissioners. Out of these figures, 75.2 percent, 78.4 percent and 100 percent represented males respectively.
Richard Lapchick, the study author, said that it is simply 'unacceptable.' Lack of penalties/sanctions is driving these schools to implement less diversity within their campus.
"There are individual schools that do it. The Division I athletics director organization has suggested it, but there is no policy or sanction for schools bringing in all white guys," Lapchick said. "I think that would make the difference as it did with academic progress and graduation rates. Once coaches knew they could lose their jobs because of it, those rates started to skyrocket," ESPN reports.
The study also found that only 15 head football coaches were from different racial backgrounds in the 2013 season when compared to 18 last year. They recorded an all-time high of 19 during the 2011-12 academic year.
The researchers said that there was some improvement in women's status. Female athletic directors increased from 12.5 percent in 2012 to 15.2 percent. They added that there is no surveillance system in place to recruit more women and racial minorities for top positions.
"I think that it goes back to same question, there's no sanctions for them not to do it, so they continue to do business the way they've always done it," Lapchick said. "I think it's more of the 'old boys' network' than it is a racial thing...So the pipeline isn't full with potential candidates. I think colleges have to be more creative with how they look for key jobs like these and make sure they have a diverse pool of candidates."
