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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2003)
4B Tuesday, April 29, 2003 SPORTS THE BATTALION CONGRATULATIONS to the following outstanding Texas A & M students accepted into Teach For America. They've shown they have the leadership and commitment needed to tackle one o : our nation's most challenging Abby Banks Brooks Landgra Sarah Byrne Molly Manning Sera Davis Elizabeth Nouri Sarah Ellis Sarah Shauger Michelle Hagopian Stephanie Stock TEACH'-OR AMERICA www.teachforamerica.org Report: Minorities and women losing ground in sports By Steve Wilstein THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Women and minorities are losing ground with jobs in pro fessional and college sports, reversing a trend toward greater diversity, according to a study released Monday. Every professional sport had lower averages for employing women compared with the last Racial and Gender Report Card two years ago, and minority hir ing slipped in pro and college sports, the study found. “While we are creeping toward fair play, we still have a long road ahead,” said sports sociologist Richard Lapchick, author of the report published by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. The 12th issue of the report card studied players, coaches and front office/athletic department employees of major league base ball, the NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA, Major League Soccer and college sports. It found: —Minorities (blacks, Asians, Latinos, Pacific Islanders and American Indians) lost ground in most of the top management positions in college and profes sional sports, including general managers, team vice presidents and college athletic directors. —The percentage of black men playing college and pro sports continued its decade-long decline in all sports except col lege and pro basketball and col lege baseball. —The percentage of interna tional players continued to grow in major league baseball, the NBA, NFL and soccer. —Women held less than 45 percent of the head coaching positions for women’s college teams in all NCAA divisions. “This is a disappointing rever sal from the 2001 report, when historically the best hiring records were noted both on the basis of race and gender,” said Lapchick, who has been tracking gains and losses by women and minorities in sports for 14 years. The report covered the 2001- 02 seasons in the NBA and NHL; 2001 in the NFL; 2002 in major league baseball, soccer, and the WNBA; and the 2000-01 aca demic year for colleges. Two of the most noteworthy highlights from the report, Lapchick said, were that: —Black Entertainment Traditionally, we've made an effort to hire the best people, period. That's worked well for us over the years, and it continues to work well for us. — Brian McIntyre NBA Spokesman Television founder and CEO Robert Johnson was awarded the right to purchase the NBA’s new Charlotte franchise, which made him the first black majority team owner in pro sports. —There was an all-time high of 24 head coaches/managers who were minorities in the three biggest professional leagues. The best news for minority coaches was in the NBA, where blacks held a record 14 head coaching jobs in the 2001-02 sea son, reaching 48 percent of the total, the highest in the history of any sport. “Traditionally, we’ve made an effort to hire the best people, pen- od,” NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said. “That’s worked well for us over the years, and it continues to work well for us.” The report card issued grades in relation to overall pat terns in society. For example, with minorities accounting for about 24 percent of the popula tion, an A was achieved if 2d percent of the positions were held by minorities. The WNBA got the highest combined grade for race and gen der at A-minus, the NBA gotaB- plus, and the NCAA got a B, Major league baseball, the NFL, NHL and Major League Soccer all received combined grades of C on the report card. On race, the NBA ledwithan A; the WNBA, baseball and soc cer each got a B-plus; the NCAA got a B; the NFL a B-minus: and the NHL a C. On gender, the WNBA led with an A; followed by the NCAA with a B: the NBA and NHL with C's; baseball withaD; the NFL with a D-minus; and soccer w ith the first F ever issued in the history' of the report. MLS spokesman Trey Fitz Gerald questioned the grade because two of the league’s eighi vice presidents during the repell ing period were women. “An F indicates that we would be doing nothing. That certainly isn’t the case,” Fitz-Geraldsaid Baseball declined to comment on the report, but last week com- missioner Bud Selig said the sport has done “very well” on minority hiring. The NFL, w'ith two minority head coaches in the 2(X)2 season, was at its lowest point since the 1991 season. A third minorit) coach was hired when Marvin Lewis joined the Cincinnati Bengals in January. 4 No Matter What Your Sport It All Starts Here! Pul UilDDV! Stay at the top of your OFFERS EXPIRE Same with our Summer APRIL30™ Shape Up Specials! Join Now & Get 6 Months FREE! 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