Old Problem, New Solution?Can programs such as the NCAA's Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males boost the numbers of Black head coaches, athletic directors?
By Pamela Burdman

Until a month ago, basketball coach Nolan Richardson could have been in line to become one of the few Black athletic directors in the NCAA's Division I. His boss at the University of Arkansas, Frank Broyles, is expected to step down from the post in three years. And Richardson has attracted a following for leading the Razorbacks to the Final Four three times in the 1990s, including one title-winning season. His friends include former President Bill Clinton. 
But in a dispute that is likely to land in a federal court, university officials recently discharged Richardson, paying $3 million to buy him out of his contract. The move came shortly on the heels of controversial comments from Richardson about the difficulties Black coaches face at predominantly White institutions.
University officials deny that Richardson's remarks had anything to do with their decision. And Richardson critics say that with the rising volume of his complaints and the falling fortunes of his basketball team, he had the dismissal coming. But to his many defenders, the university's decision to discharge him only proved his point: Black coaches are held to a different standard than their White counterparts. 
However the stand-off is resolved, Richardson's discharge underscores a taint that has been emanating from collegiate athletics for years because of the abysmally low number of coaches and athletic directors who are minorities. 
Given the high proportion of African American athletes in many sports, the numbers are all the more arresting. In the high-profile and lucrative sports of men's football and basketball, Black athletes constitute about one-third of players, but in 1999, throughout the NCAA fewer than 8 percent of athletic directors were Black. 
"It is very glaring," says
Eugene Marshall, athletic director and women's basketball coach at Ramapo College of New Jersey. "It almost has some people talking about a slave mentality — we can work the ranch, but we can't run it or own it."
Some sports have made noticeable improvements. Marshall cites men's basketball, where African Americans now constitute more than a quarter of head coaches in Division I. But he says promotions into football coaching positions as well as senior administrator positions, such as athletic director and conference commissioner, still are lagging.