Georgetown Athletic Director Adam Brick admitted that had Williams-Flournoy been an assistant at another school he might not have been aware of her. But because she had been an assistant at Georgetown under former coach Pat Knapp, she was on his list of candidates. Brick was asked what advice he would give to athletic directors seeking to hire black females.
"Typically, when people look to hire people, they tend to look within their own circle of people that they know," he said. "So what I'd say is broaden the circle of people that you know."
Hoyas Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy
|
| _____ NCAA Tournament _____
• LSU opens play at Thompson-Boling Arena -- a place where the Lady Tigers have not won in 18 tries.
• SEC rivals LSU and Tennessee are set for a potential title game showdown and the ACC earns a conference-high seven bids.
• Maryland, George Washington, Virginia and Virginia Tech all get at-large bids.
__ Breaking Down the Brackets __
__ On Our Site __
• Schedule
• NCAA tournament bracket
• Interactive Guide: Brackets, photos and basketball basics
_____ Live Online _____
• Mike Wilbon talked brackets in The Chat House. Read the transcript.
| | |
|
The BCA and others are trying to help those athletic directors become more aware of qualified candidates. Whenever a women's coaching job opens up, the BCA sends the athletic director at the school a list of black female candidates to consider. The NCAA, BCA and Black Women in Sport Foundation all hold workshops and seminars for black female coaches to help them become better prepared to seek these jobs. According to Keith, the BCA soon will start issuing a Hiring Report Card -- similar to the one it began in October 2004 for college football -- for women's Division I college basketball.
"There should be accountability," Keith said.
Tina Sloan Green, president and executive director of the Black Women in Sport Foundation, echoed Keith.
"It's all about affirmative action," Sloan Green said. "Title IX has to be extended to people of color. Those people in administrative positions have to take a stand. It needs to be brought to people's attention."
There have been plenty of success stories. In 1999, Carolyn Peck coached Purdue to the national championship, becoming the first black female coach to win the NCAA tournament. Stringer has 720 wins as a head coach. Dawn Staley has Temple ranked in the top 25.
And yet coaches with impressive credentials, such as Rutgers associate head coach Jolette Law and Princeton assistant Helen Williams, continue to be overlooked when head coaching jobs open up.
"We've just got some work to do," Stringer said. "And I won't stop until we can get more women coaching women's sports; in particular, I'd like to see some more minority women, because it can't make the young women who are playing feel good about the prospects of doing anything beyond their playing years in the sport of basketball."
