IU earns 'A' for diversity in athletics hiring

While the IU football program might not be making the grade on the field this season, it is certainly making the grade off it. \nIU earned high marks on the recently released Black Coaches Association report card assessing the methods used to hire new head football coaches. Of the 30 universities included in the report, IU was one of five to earn an overall grade of "A". \nThe report card, released Nov. 10, graded universities based on their willingness to interview minority candidates for head coaching vacancies or to include members of minority groups on their hiring committees. \n"IU Athletics shares the University's mission in cultivating a diverse pool of candidates for coaching and staff positions," IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan said in a statement. "This is a key component in developing a broad-based, nationally competitive program."\nThe second annual report card grades universities on five separate criteria: communication, hiring committee, candidates interviewed, reasonable time and affirmative action.\nIU received an "A" in the time frame, communication and search grades, while taking a "B" in the candidates interviewed and affirmative action grades.\nThe communications grade is based on the amount of communications each school had with the BCA and the Minority Opportunity Interests \nCommittee in regards to filling the head coaching vacancy. The hiring committee grade is based on the percentage of minority members on the school's committee. \nThe candidates interviewed category is calculated in much the same way of the hiring committee grade. The percentage of minority coaches who receive an on-campus interview is recorded and a score of 30 percent or better earns an "A." \nReasonable time is a measurement made to gauge the time spent to find a replacement. Anything over two weeks was given an "A" grade. \nAffirmative action grades are compiled by requesting information on each school's hiring procedures and then giving a letter grade for documented compliance with these policies. The report issues an grade for each category then compiles them into a final grade. \nThe other universities receiving "A" scores were Ohio University, the University of Illinois, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Western Michigan University. Western Michigan and Ohio received perfect scores.\nIU's overall score of 18 earned an "A" grade but was just shy of a perfect 20. \nThe overall grade for IU reflects the time the athletics department took to follow the open and fair process the BCA endorses in the report, according to the report's author, Dr. C. Keith Harrison.\nTo improve the score, the athletics department would have to "put (in) the same energy during the interview process as they put (in) to recruit nonwhite recruits on the football team," Harrison said in an e-mail interview. \nDespite the fact that IU hired football coach Terry Hoeppner, who is not a minority, the grade suggests that minority candidates were interviewed for the position or minority groups were involved in the hiring process. \nThe IU Athletics Department has not released the names of any head coach candidates.\nThe BCA report advocates "an open and objective process," which does not necessarily mean the eventual outcome is more minority head coaches. However, the BCA report concludes that "the numbers will automatically change" if the process is followed. \n"Let it be based on merit, your experience, your work ethic and your discipline," said Dr. Gary Sailes, associate professor in the department of kinesiology. "Don't let it be just because you're a man or a woman, or you're white or black."\nThere were five schools that received failing grades on the report card: Southeastern Louisiana University, Marshall University, San Jose State University, the University of South Carolina and the University of Utah.\nDivision I-A football currently has three black head coaches out of 119 football programs, a figure that NCAA president Myles Brand called "appalling" in his 2005 State of the Association address.