1
THE GLASS CEILING
AND
COLLEGE COACHES
Charles L. Kennedy
Senior Instructor
Political Science
Penn State York
November, 2005
I first became interested in girls’ and women’s sports when my daughters started playing youth soccer in the early 1980s. The league had a rule requiring all players to play at least 50% of the game. I noticed the coaches usually substituted girls for other girls, so the maximum playing time a girl would play in a game was 50%. The ability of the girl seemed to not matter, each had 50% playing time.
Eventually, I went on to coach a mixed team when my son was playing “Under 8” soccer. I devised an elaborate substitution system, so that all players played 2/3 or ¾ (male or female, fast or slow) of the time, depending on the number of substitutes. Of course, I caught grief from several parents for not playing the best kids enough.
Another thing I noticed was that most of the coaches were men—women served as “the team mother.” Eventually, my daughters moved up to the all girls league and my wife got involved as their coach. In reflection this was very important that she and many other women stepped forward to provide positive role models for the girls. It must be emphasized that the coach is somebody special. The coach is held in awe and merits the utmost respect.
Of course, this was the early 1980s. Title IX had only been in existence for a decade. The increase in the number of girls and women playing sports has been simply astronomical. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, in 1970-71, there were only 29,992 women participating in college sports. This contrasts with 170,384 men involved in college sports. In 2000-01, there were 150,916 women—a fantastic increase of 408%. The meteoric rise continued as the number of female athletes reached a record high for the 2003-04 season. There were 202,540 female athletes in college sports. Arguably, this transformation on our playing fields never could have occurred without the passage of Title IX in 1972.
As a cautionary note, however, it must be recognized that women now comprise 56% of the students on college campuses, but only 41% of the athletes. In their classic study of women in sports in 2001, the Women’s Sports Foundation concluded, “While women can no longer be considered token student-athletes on American campuses, they are far from being full partners in the opportunity system of intercollegiate sport.”
In my recent study, “College Sports & Title IX #3,” the conclusion was inescapable that women are not yet full partners. The study included 103 colleges from 10 conferences. These were the six major BCS (Bowl Championship Series) conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-10, and SEC) and four of the “mid-major” conferences—Mid-American (MAC), Mountain West, Western Athletic (WAC), and Conference USA. The colleges and conferences were evaluated according to the criteria of participation, scholarship allocations, expenses, recruitment budget, and coaching salaries. The Kennedy Index established a minimum standard or goal for the colleges to aim. The college received a +/– score depending on how close they came to meeting the goal.
Participation is one of three federal guidelines for a college to determine if it has enough opportunities for female athletes. In this test the percentage of female athletes should be directly proportional to the percentage of women in the student body. Thus, the Index is based on how close the college reaches the ideal proportionality of 0.0.
Of the 103 colleges in the study, only 12 had a positive score: Purdue, Michigan, Stanford, Kansas State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Tulane, Cincinnati, Nevada, Toledo, and Utah.
Scholarship is the only purely numerical section of guidelines governing scholarship funds to women athletes. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has specified that colleges must award “the same proportion of aid to female athletes as there are women in varsity sports.” The Index is based on the “same proportion principle, so it would be 0.0.
The colleges overwhelmingly scored highest on this point as 48 finished with a positive score.
Operating Expenses is not included in any specific guidelines. For purposes of the Kennedy Index, a standard of 40% was established as the goal. The number was based on the study “Gender Quotas? Not in College Sports” by the Chronicle of Higher Education. This study determined that the median operating costs for women’s teams was 38% for all Division I teams for the 2003-04 season. The Index is based on the assumption that 40% is a reasonable and realistic goal, slightly above the 38% average.
However, only two of the 103 schools finished with a plus score. The Eastern Michigan Eagles scored +0.86 and the Nevada Wolfpack scored +0.30.
Recruiting Budget and Coaching Salaries also are not mandated by Title IX regulations. If equal treatment for men’s and women’s sports is the goal, then the recruiting budget and coaching salaries budget should also be equivalent. Again the 40% standard was selected as the goal.
Only five schools exceeded the 40% standard on the recruiting budget: Nevada, Eastern Michigan, KentState, Stanford, and Connecticut. Nevada was highest at +4.09.
Only four schools cracked the 40% standard on coaching salaries: Nevada, KentState, Stanford, and Connecticut. The Golden Flash of Kent State led the way with +1.59.
Of the 103 schools, only two finished with a total positive score. Nevada was +3.43 and the Toledo Rockets had a +1.20.
These low numbers become even more remarkable when the number of female coaches in the ten conferences is examined. This study focuses on the average number of all coaches, head coaches and assistant coaches, in all sports for the aforementioned ten conferences. As a standard of measure and comparison, I would propose the same 40% standard that was utilized in the “College Sports & Title IX #3” study. I was surprised that the average percentages per conference per category are so far below the 40% goal. Remember, we are talking about the 2003-04 season, which is 30 years after Title IX was enacted into law.
None of the conferences reached the 40% standard in any category. The Big East had the highest average percentage of female coaches for the “all coaches” category. Their average score was 32.36%. This was the only conference that even scored above 30%. The lowest conference was the MAC with women averaging only 17.14% of all coaches.
The Southeastern Conference was the pace setter in all sports for highest average number of female head coaches with 30.15%. They were the only one of the 10 conferences to exceed 30%. The WAC was lowest at 23.18%.
The Big East again led the way with the highest average number of female assistant coaches with 33.47%. Conference USA was 30.53% and the ACC at 30.17% also exceeded the 30% mark. The MAC was the abysmal lowest at 11.63%.
The conferences were then ranked according to their combined score for each category. For example, the Big East would be the #1 conference with a total score of 95.04:
32.36% of all coaches are women
29.21% of all head coaches are women
33.47% of all assistant coaches are women
95.04% = TOTAL SCORE
The MAC finished in the basement with a total score of 57.41%. Additionally, the Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-10, WAC, MAC, and Mountain West failed to score above 30% in any category.
The rank of the conferences and their totalscore is as follows:
1. Big East= 95.04%6. SEC= 76.76%
2. Conference USA= 85.837. Big 12= 73.73
3. Big Ten= 85.338. Mountain West= 73.34
4. ACC= 84.129. WAC= 68.82
5. PAC-10= 80.19 10. MAC= 57.41
The extremely interesting aspect of these results comes in the comparison with my study “College Sports & Title IX #3.” In this study the MAC, WAC, and Mountain West scored the highest. As indicated, this study focused on the variables of participation, scholarship, operating expenses, recruitment budget, and coaching salaries. This leads to the inescapable conclusion that even though these three conferences are in the lead in female participation and allocating a higher proportion of their athletic budget to female sports, they simply are not hiring women to be the leaders and role models of their athletes.
Conference USA is also a major exception. The conference finished a distant last in the previous study but a strong second in this study. This would indicate that they are not allocating a high proportion of resources to female sports, but are hiring proportionally more women as coaches.
Since I am also examining college sports and Title IX for all colleges in Pennsylvania for a different study, I decided to conduct a comparison between a sampling of Division II and Division III conferences and colleges in Pennsylvania and neighboring states with the 6 BCS and 4 mid-major conferences. These conferences include several of the colleges in central Pennsylvania, whose athletic teams (male and female) I regularly follow.
The Division II Conferences are the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Division III conferences are the Commonwealth, the Capital Athletic (primarily Maryland), the Commonwealth Coast (primarily New York and New England), the North Coast Athletic (primarily Ohio), and the Centennial.
Interestingly, the results are essentially the same as for the BCS and mid-majors. The Division III Capital Athletic Conference, however, was highest in all three categories and #1 among the five conferences. This conference is comprised of CatholicUniversity, Galludet, Goucher, Marymont, Salisbury, St. Mary’s, Mary Washington, and York College of PA. The scores of the conference were:
34.88% of all coaches are women
35.50% of all head coaches are women
34.50% of all assistant coaches are women
104.88% = TOTAL SCORE
Additionally, the conference was the only one among the seven conferences to score above 30% in any category. The WVIA Conference scored below 20% in all categories. It is also of interest to note that the Division III conferences were higher than the Division II conferences.
The rank of the conferences and their total score is as follows:
1. Capital Athletic= 104.88
2. Centennial= 86.61
3. CommonwealthCoast= 84.20
4. NorthCentralCoast= 82.31
5. Commonwealth= 73.26
5. PSAC= 73.26
7. WVIA= 54.50
The results are even more eye-opening when the study focuses on the number of head coaches and assistant coaches of the women’s teams only. Before I began testing the numbers, I naively assumed (30 years after Title IX) that the number of women, who are head coaches of women’s teams and assistant coaches of women’s teams, would both be above 60%. I established 60% as the standard or goal,since 56% of all college students are women.
For the number of female head coaches of women’s teams, none of the 10 conferences exceeded the 60% goal. Four of the conferences exceeded 50% and one conference, the WAC, was actually below 40%. The conference with the highest average number of female coaches of women’s teams was the Big Ten at 54.89%. The rank and average number per conference is as follows:
1. Big Ten= 54.89%6. ACC= 47.78%
2. SEC= 53.507. ConferenceUSA= 46.85
3. Big East= 51.558. Mountain West= 46.67
4. PAC-10= 50.489. Big 12= 46.30
5. MAC= 49.57 10. WAC= 39.08
For the number of female assistant coaches of women’s teams, the numbers are basically similar. However, one conference exceeds the 60% standard. This is the Big East at 62.78%. Four of the conferences exceed 50% and four exceed 40%. The MAC is the only conference below 40% at 33.85%.
The rank per conference and average number of female assistant coaches for women’s teams is as follows:
1. Big East= 62.78%6. PAC= 48.68%
2. Big Ten= 58.487. SEC= 47.33
3. ACC= 57.218. Big 12= 45.70
4. Conference USA= 55.669. Mountain West= 44.63
5. WAC= 52.59 10. MAC= 33.85
It should be noted that the Mountain West and the Big 12 finished in the lower bracket for both number of female head coaches and assistant coaches of women’s sports. Whereas, the Big Ten and Big East were the only conferences in the top bracket of both categories.
When the analysis is extended to the sample of Division II and Division III conferences, none of the conferences exceeded the 60% standard. However, five of the seven conferences exceeded the 50% standard for the number of female head coaches of women’s teams. Once again the Capital Athletic Conference was the leader at 57.53% and the WVIA in the basement at 35.96%. For the female assistant coaches of women’s teams, the Centennial Conference was the leader at 58.60%. Three other conferences also finished above 50%. The WVIA was lowest at 39.13%.
The rank and average number of female coaches of women’s teams per conference (sample of Divisions II and III conferences):
Head Coaches Asst. Coaches
ConferenceRank % Rank %
Capital Athletic 1 57.53 2 57.94
North Central Coast 2 54.88 4 52.31
Commonwealth Coast 3 51.85 3 55.56
Centennial 4 51.40 1 58.60
PSAC 5 50.42 5 48.99
Commonwealth 6 44.12 6 48.74
WVIA 7 35.96 7 39.13
It is extremely interesting to flip the coin of the study and examine the number of women as head coaches and assistant coaches of men’s teams. As one might expect the numbers are extremely low. In the ten conferences, there are 843 head coaches of men’s teams; the number of female head coaches equals 11. This amounts to 1.3%. The Big 12, Big East and Conference USA have 2 women head coaches. At the other end the SEC and Mountain West have no women as head coaches of men’s teams. As an interesting point of comparison, the Big Ten fields 116 men’s teams, which is the most of the 10 conferences; whereas, the Mountain West fields the least with only 47. The data on number of teams, head coaches, and female head coaches of men’s teams is contained in the following chart.
Total # of Total # of Total # of Women% of Women
ConferenceMen’s Teams Head Coaches Head Coaches Head Coaches
Big East 7981 2 2.5
Big 12 8385 2 2.4
Conference USA 9496 2 2.1
ACC 8085 1 1.8
WAC 6364 1 1.6
MAC 8788 1 1.14
PAC-10 8691 1 1.10
Big Ten 116 119 1 0.8
Mountain West 4747 0 0.0
SEC 85 87 0 0.0
TOTAL 820 843 11 1.3%
Note. I would assume that the number of teams differs from the number of head coaches due to the existence of co-coaches for several teams at some colleges.
In the category of female assistant coaches of men’s teams, there is a slight increase. In the 10 conferences there are 2745 assistant coaches for the 820 men’s teams. The Big Ten had the most assistant coaches with 356 and the Mountain West had the least at 151. This reflects the fact that the Big Ten and Mountain West had the most and least men’s teams, respectively.
The greatest number of female assistant coaches of men’s teams was Conference USA with 26, followed closely by the Big East-25, ACC-24, and SEC-23. Conference USA also had the highest percentage of women assistant coaches at 9.7%. At the other end of the scale, the WAC had only 5 women assistants for 2.5% and the MAC had only 6 for 2.0%. The complete information on number of assistant and female assistant coaches of men’s teams is contained in the following chart.
Total # Asst. # of Women % of Women
Conference Coaches Asst. Coaches Asst. Coaches
Conference USA 267269.7
ACC 266249.02
Big East 278259.0
SEC 298237.7
PAC-10 305206.6
Mountain West 151 96.0
Big 12 325185.5
Big Ten 356102.8
WAC 199 52.5
MAC 300 62.0
TOTAL 27451666.5%
These numbers become even more relevant in light of the creation of the Commission on Opportunities in Athletics, that was established by the U.S. Secretary of Education in June, 2002. The purpose of the Commission was … “to collect information, analyze issues, and obtain broad public input directed at improving the application of current federal standards for measuring equal opportunity … in athletics under Title IX.”
The Commission passed 23 recommendations, 15 of which were approved unanimously. In reviewing these recommendations, what literally jumps off the pages is that none of the recommendations dealt with the adoption of policies and procedures regarding the employment of more women coaches. From the analysis of the data in this study, it certainly appears that a glass ceiling exists in the hiring of women coaches in college sports. The very first recommendation provides a springboard to initiate action to eliminate or alleviate this glass ceiling effect.
Recommendation 1. The Department of Education should reaffirm its strong commitment to equal opportunity and the elimination of discrimination for girls and boys, women and men.
It is simply unfathomable that the average number of women head coaches of women’s teams in the 10 conferences examined is under 50% in 6 conferences, and under 55% in all 10 conferences. Additionally, the average number of women assistant coaches of women’s teams is under 50% in five of the conferences and over 60% in only one conference.
As the Commission emphasized, “While women and girls have had many new opportunities, there is much more that must be done.” If Title IX is to continue to be a critical component of the quest for fairness and the elimination of discrimination; then the necessary policies, procedures, and guidelines should be implemented to encourage the hiring of more female coaches.
Government action should not be necessary, however. The time has come for the NCAA to cross over the bridge into the 21st century and eliminate the glass ceiling on the playing fields. The NCAA is the proper authority to initiate the action. In the summer of 2005 the NCAA raised the bar on its members by banning nicknames or mascots that are “hostile or abusive” to American Indians. At least 18 schools are affected. These colleges would be banned from participating in NCAA postseason tournaments, effective February, 2006. They would also be barred from hosting tournaments.
The NCAA also ruled that college football media guides must be limited to 208 pages. Additionally, the BCS has added an academic performance rate (APR) to evaluate the colleges. It plans to evaluate its member conferences from top to bottom. It established penalties for schools with low APRs and awards for schools with high APRs.
The NCAA simply could establish a series of recommended standards that the colleges/conferences could set as their goal. These would not be quotas. The NCAA could also have a system of penalties and awards for meeting the goals.