Last week, l had the opportunity to read the cover story in the July 30-August 5, 2018 Sports Business Journal that purported to explore “in-depth” the challenges confronting the sports industry related to the issue of diversity and inclusion. The 21-page piece featured insights and perspectives from a wide range of sports industry “thought-leaders.”
Not one of them was a member of the HBCU athletic community.
It would be easy to call this glaring oversight on the part of the Sports Business Journal the worst of assumptions we could make about it; a race-based disregard for the contributions of 100+ colleges and universities to the billion-dollar fortunes of collegiate and professional sports. But that would be way too simple and overtly wrong. Sports in America do not exist without African American athletes or fans. The SBJ deserves the benefit of the doubt in
But how they missed black colleges is something just as dangerous – willful ignorance of the critical role HBCUs play to positively impact diversity and inclusion.
The SBJ’s complete omission of HBCUs in connection with this important discussion is, ironically enough, the most important takeaway from the article. It highlights the folly underlying the common refrain of some who pay “lip service” to inclusion and often feign or express frustration about the difficulty in finding “qualified” diverse candidates.
The reality is that sports organizations are simply not looking in the right places for that talent. Facts demand that we recognize that four historically black athletic conferences, the SWAC, MEAC, SIAC and CIAA, have for years have not only employed a disproportionate percentage of NCAA college sports administrators of color, but have also provided critical opportunities to an assortment of sports professionals who began their careers at HBCUs and have reached the highest ranks of their respective fields.
Hall of Fame coaches such
And last year, Pep Hamilton, a Howard University graduate and current offensive coordinator at the University of Michigan under head coach Jim Harbaugh, became one of the highest paid offensive coordinators in the country when he signed a four-year $4.25m contract with the Wolverines. Coach Hamilton’s first coaching opportunity was provided by an HBCU as well (Howard University).
The numbers also corroborate the significant contributions of HBCUs. According to a NCAA Race and Gender Demographics Reports available on the NCAA website, although HBCUs represent less
HBCUs have for years have shouldered the lion’s share of the responsibility with respect to providing employment opportunities to minority coaches, athletic directors, and other sports administrators. And HBCUs have not received their just due for their efforts in this regard.
If we just consider collegiate sports, where nearly 60% of the participants in the two revenue sports of football and basketball are African-American men, our obligation is clear to demand that media outlets, corporate partners and all other members of the sports universe lift up the work of HBCUs to advance equity on the field and in front offices.
The Sports Business Journal may have neglected to mention HBCUs in its profile of inclusion and equity of opportunity in sports, but we as HBCU stakeholders and advocates know better. And we should do more to hold systems of money, power
There is still high degree of ignorance amongst mainstream entities such as Corporate, PWI, and even Mnority Executives when it comes to HBCU knowledge. The Old Business Adage “No one ever got fired for hiring IBM” still rings true in the Sports Arena. Even mainstream web and print publications about HBCU success don’t cover pertinent stories i,e, see Grambling’s Kenneth Simpson inducted into the ArkLaTex Sports Museum of Champions Hall of Fame in Shreveport, Louisiana was covered by The Grambling Athletic Department, or SWAC Conference Office. We have to get past ourselves, and care!!! If we don’t cover our own; how can we expect others to cover us.
Yeah we already know the contributions HBCU alum had made in every industry in the US. So if they (white people) won’t give us just do and tell our story. Its cool, we have to continue to tell our story and preserve our own history. HBCU Excellence Always!!!