Chasing Stars: Racial Tasking of Recruiting Responsibilities among Power-5 Football Coaches
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jis.v16i3.18977Keywords:
NCAA, Power-5, recruiting, racial taskingAbstract
During the 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college football season, eight of the 65 Power-5 head coaches were Black. The racial composition of assistant coaches, however, was nearly 50% Black and 50% White. While the head coach of a Power-5 football team serves as the leader of the program, the 10 assistant coaches permitted by the NCAA oversee a variety of critical roles; the most valuable of which is recruiting. This study extends previous work by examining the racial composition of Power-5 football coaching staffs and recruiting responsibilities through the lens of racial tasking. An analysis of Power-5 football recruiting classes from 2019 and 2020 illustrates that assistant coaches are tasked with recruiting recruits racially similar to themselves 58% of the time. Furthermore, Black assistant coaches are disproportionately tasked with recruiting Black recruits and higher rated recruits (i.e., five- and four-star) compared to their White counterparts. We contend such racialized responsibilities and expectations may affect opportunities for advancement among Black assistant coaches.
Downloads
References
Anderson, D. (1993). Cultural diversity on campus: A look at intercollegiate football coaches.
Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 17(1), 61-66. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F019372359301700108
Banwell, J., & Kerr, G. (2022). Coaches’ perspectives on their roles in the facilitating the personal development of student-athletes. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 46(1), 1-18.
Barnett, Z. (2019, November 12). You don’t have to be a coordinator to be a successful head
coach. These coaches are proof. Football Scoop. https://footballscoop.com/news/you- dont-have-to-be-a-coordinator-to-be-a-successful-head-coach-these-coaches-are-proof/
Bates, D. (2022, July 2). UCLA athletic director names 1 primary reason for joining Big Ten. The Spun by Sports Illustrated. https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/ucla-athletic-director-names-1-primary-reason-for-joining-big-ten
Becker, G. S. (1973). A theory or marriage: Part 1. Journal of Political Economy, 81(4), 813-846. https://doi.org/10.1086/260084
Bell, D. A. (1992). Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of racism.
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Bell, D. A. (1995). Racial realism. In K. Crenshaw, N. Gotanda, G. Peller, & K. Thomas
(Eds.), Critical race theory: The key writings that formed the movement (pp. 302–312). The New Press.
Bender, B. (2020, June 22). College football coaches facing hottest seats, most pressure in 2020.
Sporting News. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/college-football-hot-seat-coaches-most-pressure-2020/17jh39tdlezcb14t8ejq70phb4
https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/football/assistant
Blake-Beard, S., Bayne, M. L., Crosby, F. J., & Muller, C. B. (2011). Matching by race and
gender in mentoring relationships: Keeping our eyes on the prize. Journal of Social Issues, 67(3), 622-642. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01717.x
Bopp, T., & Sagas, M. (2014). Racial tasking and the college quarterback: Redefining the stacking phenomenon. Journal of Sport Management, 28, 136-142. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2012-0296
Bopp, T., Vadeboncoeur, J. D., & Turick, R. (2020). The conceptualization of racial
tasking: Uncovering the (un) intended consequences. Sport Management Review, 23(4), 601-614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2019.08.005
Braddock II, J. H. (1981). Race and leadership in professional sports. A Study of institutional discrimination in the National Football League. Arena Review, 5(2), 16-25.
Broughton, D. (2020, August 17). Power Five: An $8.3 billion revenue powerhouse. Sports
Business Journal. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2020/08/17/Colleges/Revenue.aspx
Caro, C. A. (2012). College football success: The relationship between recruiting and
winning. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 7(1), 139-152. https://doi.org/10.1260%2F1747-9541.7.1.139
Corr, C., Southall, R. M., & Nagel, M. S. (2020). Southeastern Conference recruiting and the maintenance of power-5 college sport. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 13, 252-272.
Cunningham, G. B., & Bopp, T. (2010). Race ideology perpetuated: Media
representations of newly hired football coaches. Journal of Sports Media, 5(1), 1-19. http://doi.org/10.1353/jsm.0.0048
Cunningham, G. B., & Sagas, M. (2005). Access discrimination in intercollegiate
athletics. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 29(2), 148-163.
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0193723504271706
Day, J. C. (2015). Transitions to the top: Race, segregation, and promotions to executive
positions in the college football coaching profession. Work and Occupations, 42(4), 408-446. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888415580651
DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004). “So when it comes out, they aren’t that surprised
that it is there”: Using critical race theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education. Educational Researcher, 33(5), 26-31. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X033005026
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2000). Critical race theory: The cutting edge. Temple University Press.
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147-160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101
Donovan, T. (2017, May 16). Why coordinators and position coaches need to communicate the
same message. USA Football. https://blogs.usafootball.com/blog/3577/why-coordinators-and-position-coaches-need-to-communicate-the-same-message
Edwards, H. (1973). Sociology of sport. Dorsey Press.
Egalite, A. J., Kisida, B., & Winters, M. A. (2015). Representation in the classroom: The effect
of own-race teachers on student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 45, 44-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.007
Elmasry, T. (2017). History shows national titles without elite recruiting over 4 years is
rare. Saturday Down South. https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-football/history-shows-national-titles-require-great-not-just-good-recruiting-over-4-years/
Frisby, W. (2005). The good, the bad, and the ugly: Critical sport management research.
Journal of Sport Management, 19, 1-12. DOI: 10.1123/jsm.19.1.1
Grusky, O. (1963). The effects of formal structure on managerial recruitment: A study of
baseball organization. Sociometry, 26(3), 345-353. https://doi.org/10.2307/2786074
Hawkins, B. (2002). Is stacking dead? A case study of the stacking hypothesis at a
Southeastern Conference (SEC) football program. International Sports Journal, 6(2), 146.
Hoppe, H. C., Moldovanu, B., & Sela, A. (2009). The theory of assortative matching based on costly signals. Review of Economic Studies, 76, 253-281. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-937X.2008.00517.x
Horne, L. (2013, April 4). Recruiting coordinators are the most underappreciated men in
college football. Bleacher Report. https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/1592647-recruiting-coordinators-are-the-most-underappreciated-men-in-college-football.amp.html
Hylton, K. (2010). How a turn to critical race theory can contribute to our understanding
of ‘race’, racism and anti-racism in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45(3), 335-354. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1012690210371045
Hylton, K. (2012). Talk the talk, walk the walk: Defining critical race theory in research.
Race Ethnicity and Education, 15(1), 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2012.638862
Johnson, G. (2017, October 4). DI council introduces football staff size change. NCAA.com.
Johnson, R. (2019, February 27). College football coach job titles, explained: Which one is right
for you? SBNation. https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2019/2/27/18239958/coach-job-titles
Kercheval, B. (2016, February 2). Do top 10 recruiting classes really equal
championships? Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2613145-do-top-10-recruiting-classes-really-equal-championships
Kilgore, A. (2019, September 25). The NFL’s search for the next Sean McVay has created a new
role: Head coach of the defense. Washington Post.
Kulha, A. (2013, April 17). Assistant coaches whose recruiting skills could lead to future
head coaching job. Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1608197-assistant-coaches-whose-recruiting-skills-could-lead-to-future-head-coaching-job
Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what's it doing in a nice
field like education?. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(1), 7-24.
Lawrence, C. R. (1995). The id, the ego, and equal protection: Reckoning with unconscious racism. In K. Crenshaw, N. Gotanda, G. Peller, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Critical race theory: The key writings that formed the movement, 235–257. The New Press.
Magnusen, M. J., Kim, Y., Perrewé, P. L., & Ferris, G. R. (2014). A critical review and synthesis
of student-athlete college choice factors: Recruiting effectiveness in NCAA sports. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 9(6), 1265-1286. https://doi.org/10.1260%2F1747-9541.9.6.1265
Magnusen, M. J., Mondello, M., Kim, Y. K., & Ferris, G. R. (2011). Roles of recruiter political
skill, influence strategy, and organization reputation in recruitment effectiveness in college sports. Thunderbird International Business Review, 53(6), 687-700. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.20445
Mankin, J., Rivas, J., & Jewell, J. (2021). The effectiveness of college football recruiting ratings
in predicting team success: A longitudinal study. Research in Business and Economics Journal, 14, 4-22.
Mendes, R., van den Berg, G. J., & Lindeboom, M. (2010). An empirical assessment of assortative matching in the labor market. Labour Economics, 17(6), 919-929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2010.05.001
National Collegiate Athletic Association. (n.d.). Recruiting (Article 13). NCAA.
http://www.ncaa.org/recruiting-article-13
National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2019). 15-year trends in Division I athletics finances. NCAA Research. https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/research/Finances/2020RES_D1-RevExp_Report.pdf
National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2021a). NCAA demographics database.
http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/ncaa-demographics-database
National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2021b). NCAA 2021-2022 Division I manual. NCAA. https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/reports/getReport/90008
Next College Student Athlete. (n.d.). Football recruiting rankings. NCSA.
https://www.ncsasports.org/articles-1/football-recruiting-rankings
Nite, C., & Washington, M. (2017). Institutional adaptation to technological innovation: Lessons from the NCAA’s regulation of football television broadcasts (1938–1984). Journal of Sport Management, 31(6), 575-590. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2017-0159
Nite, C., Ige, A., & Washington, M. (2019). The evolving institutional work of the National Collegiate Athletic Association to maintain dominance in a fragmented field. Sport Management Review, 22(3), 379-394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2018.05.002
O’Brien, E. (2022, February 21). CFB scout on how football recruits can earn stars. GMTM.
Peeters, T. L. P. R., Salaga, S., & Juravich, M. (2020). Matching and winning? The impact of upper and middle managers on firm performance in Major League Baseball. Management Science 66(6), 2735-2751. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3323
Pitts, J. D., & Yost, D. M. (2013). Racial position segregation in intercollegiate football: Do players become more racially segregated as they transition from high school to college? The Review of Black Political Economy, 40(2), 207-230. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs12114-012-9149-z
Santomier, J. P., Howard, W. G., Piltz, W. L., & Romance, T. J. (1980). White sock crime: Organizational deviance in intercollegiate athletics. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 4 (2), 26-32. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F019372358000400203
Shimer, R., & Smith, L. (2000). Assortative matching and search. Econometrics, 68(2), 343-369. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0262.00112
Siler, K.. (2019). Pipelines on the gridiron: Player backgrounds, opportunity structures
and racial stratification in American college football. Sociology of Sport Journal, 36(1), 57-76. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2017-0125
Simmons, B. (2020, February 12). College football recruiting: Ranking the top 10 recruiters that
hauled in the class of 2020. CBS Sports. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-recruiting-ranking-the-top-10-recruiters-that-hauled-in-the-class-of-2020/amp/
Singer, J. N. (2005). Addressing epistemological racism in sport management research. Journal
of Sport Management, 19(4), 464-479. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.19.4.464
Singer, J. N., Harrison, C. K., & Bukstein, S. J. (2010). A critical race analysis of the hiring
process for head coaches in NCAA college football. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 3(2), 270-296. https://doi.org/10.1123/jis.3.2.270
Snyder, E. E. (1985). A theoretical analysis of academic and athletic roles. Sociology of
Sport Journal, 2(3), 210-217. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2.3.210
Southall, R. M., & Nagel, M. S. (2009, December 17). Big-time college sport's contested terrain: Jock capitalism, educational values, and social good. Human Kinetics Sport Management News. https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/articles/big-time-college-sports-contested-terrain-jock-capitalism-educational-values-and-social-good
Southall, R. M., & Weiler, J. D. (2014). NCAA Division-I athletic departments: 21st
century athletic company towns. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 7, 161-186.
Southall, R. M., Wells, D. E., & Nagel, M. S. (2005). Organizational culture perceptions of intercollegiate athletic department members. Applied Research in Coaching and Athletics Annual, 20, 65-93.
Treadway, D. C., Adams, G., Hanes, T. J., Perrewé, P. L., Magnusen, M. J., & Ferris, G. R.
(2014). The roles of recruiter political skill and performance resource leveraging in NCAA football recruitment effectiveness. Journal of Management, 40(6), 1607-1626. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0149206312441836
Turick, R. (2018). Persistence in the face of career obstacles: The coaching experiences of
African American college football coaches. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida).
Turick, R., & Bopp, T. (2016). A current analysis of black head football coaches and
offensive coordinators at the NCAA DI-FBS level. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 9, 282-302. https://doi.org/10.1123/jis.2016-0012
Sports. (2012, July 20). 247Sports rating explanation. 247Sports.
https://247sports.com/Article/247Sports-Rating-Explanation-81574/
Weathersby, E. (2014, March 6). Power ranking the 10 best recruiting coordinators in college
football. Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1984028-power-ranking-the-10-best-recruiting-coordinators-in-college-football
Weinberg, R., Freysinger, V., Vealey, R., & Block, C. (2022) What does it mean to be “mentally tough” as a NCAA division I collegiate coach? Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 34(2), 342-362. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2020.1791277
Yang, Y., & Goldfarb, A. (2015). Banning controversial sponsors: Understanding equilibrium outcomes when sports sponsorships are viewed as two-sided matches. Journal of Marketing Research, 52(5), 593-615. https://doi.org/10.1509%2Fjmr.14.0225
Zirkel, S. (2002). Is there a place for me? Role models and academic identity among White students and students of color. Teachers College Record, 104(2), 357-376. https://doi.org/10.1111%2F1467-9620.00166
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Chris Corr, Trevor Bopp, Christopher Atwater, Calvin Nite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright is held by the authors.
