The National Association for Coaching Equity and Development, along with the National Consortium for Academics and Sports and The No Hate Zone, are proposing that the NCAA implement a new rule which will give minority candidates a better chance at earning high-regarded coaching and management positions, writes Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com
The organizations have asked NCAA schools to adopt the Eddie Robinson rule, a rule similar to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for all head coaching and leadership positions.
“‘The Eddie Robinson Rule,’ as coined by Dr. Lapchick, is an initiative designed to encourage colleges and universities to voluntarily execute a ‘best hiring practices policy’ for their department of athletics by pledging to interview at least one, preferably more than one, qualified racial and ethnic minority candidate in their final candidate pool for open head coaching and executive administrative positions,” NAFCED said in a statement to The Associated Press and ESPN.com on Friday. “The need for such a rule is borne out of the indisputable fact that racial and ethnic minority coaches are frequently overlooked by the search and hiring process commonly used by colleges and universities.”
The proposal certainly has a point. As a study by the Lapchick Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at UCF reported 87.5 percent of the 128 head football coaches in the FBS were white, while 80 percent of college presidents and athletic directors in the FBS were white males.
Along with the NFL, MLB has a similar rule titled the “Selig Rule” which requires every club to interview at least one minority candidate when hiring senior management and other positions – although some organizations and the MLB have received criticism for circumventing the rule.
Former Michigan State AD and current NAFCED leader Merrit Norvell said it’s time university’s start practicing what they preach.
“Everybody seems to be talking about it, but nobody is doing anything about it,” Norvell said.
[ESPN]
