College Football: How Many Coaches of Color Will Be Hired This Year?

African American student-athletes make up 51 percent of all the players on the 120 Division 1 (Football Bowl Subdivision) football teams.

And yet, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (TIDES) reports that only 17 of those 120 programs are led by African American head coaches.

In a study entitled "Mild Progress Continues: Assessing Diversity among Campus and Conference Leaders for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Schools in the 2011-12 Academic Year," TIDES director Dr. Richard Lapchick observed:

"At the beginning of the 2011 season, there was an all-time high of 19 head coaches of color, including 17 African-American head coaches."

The 17 African-American head coaches are:

• Jon Embree, University of Colorado
• Ruffin McNeill, East Carolina University
• Ron English, Eastern Michigan University
• Kevin Sumlin, University of Houston
• Turner Gill, University of Kansas
• Darrell Hazell, Kent State University
• Joker Phillips, University of Kentucky
• Charlie Strong, University of Louisville
• Larry Porter, University of Memphis
• Don Treadwell, Miami University (Ohio)
• Mike Locksley, University of New Mexico
• DeWayne Walker, New Mexico State University
• Everett Withers, University of North Carolina
• David Shaw, Stanford University (pictured)
• James Franklin, Vanderbilt University
• Mike London, University of Virginia
• Willie Taggart, Western Kentucky University.

In addition, there was a Latino (Mario Cristobal, Florida International University; pictured) and an Asian (Polynesian) (Ken Niumatalolo, U.S. Naval Academy).

Other thought-provoking statistics from the study include:

—Only 11.9 percent of offensive and defensive coordinators (the two “feeder” positions most often looked at when promoting someone to head coach for the first time) are African American.

—There are 14 athletics directors of color among the 120 FBS football programs.

—There has never been a woman or person of color who held the commissioner position for a BCS conference.

Two coaching vacancies have already been filled. Last week, the University of New Mexico hired Bob Davies, the former Notre Dame head coach. This week, the University of Arizona selected Rich Rodriguez as their next head coach.

When the "coaching carousel" begins to spin at the end of the season, who will be fired and how many coaches of color will be hired?

More than a perfunctory interview with a coach of color, I hope that athletic directors are thorough in looking at all of the possible candidates.

I trust that further progress will be made in selecting highly-qualified people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds to lead the top-level college football programs in the country.