NCAA Committee Declines Vote on Policies to Expand Minority Opportunities

The NCAA Committee to Promote Cultural Diversity and Equity has declined to vote on or recommend policy proposals that would broaden the job opportunities for minority candidates. 

In a statement provided to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, the NCAA said it will "continue conversations with conference commissioners" who support the rule changes after the committee opted not to move forward with a recommendation to the board of governors. 

According to Rittenberg, the CPCDE met Tuesday to discuss Oregon's Rooney Rule and the Bill Russell Rule:

"Oregon's Rooney Rule, a state law since Jan. 1, 2010, requires state schools to interview at least one qualified minority candidate for all head coach and athletic director openings. The Russell Rule, adopted in August by the West Coast Conference, requires all member institutions 'to include a member of a traditionally underrepresented community in the pool of final candidates for every athletic director, senior administrator, head coach and full-time assistant coach position.'"

In September, Jason Belzer of Athletic Director U (h/t ESPN's Myron Medcalf) noted that 30 athletic directors from Division I programs signed a Collegiate Coaching Diversity Pledge that requires schools to "have a finalist pool that includes at least one candidate from a traditionally underrepresented background and one non-diverse candidate" for vacancies in in men's basketball, women's basketball and football. 

Chris Hummer of 247Sports cited NCAA data that showed college football had 20 minority head coaches out of 130 FBS programs in the 2018-19 academic year. 

The NCAA doesn't currently have a uniform policy that requires programs to interview minority candidates for job vacancies.