An Inside Look at the Black Coaches Association

Princeton, N.J. (August 16, 2001) – Brigham Young University and Tulane University will kick-off the college football season at the BCA Classic on August 25th at 4:30 EST at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. ESPN2 will nationally televise the game. The Black Coaches Association (BCA), the beneficiary of the game, is a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is to foster the growth and development of minorities at all levels of sports, both nationally and internationally.

The mission of the Black Coaches Association is to (1) address significant issues pertaining to the participation and employment of minorities in sport in general and intercollegiate athletics in particular; (2) assist minorities aspiring to have a career in athletics through educational and professional development programming and scholarships; (3) provide local communities with the opportunity to participate in community building and diversity focused activities with the BCA. The BCA of the future will use a Planned Positive Vision which will work systematically toward the resolution of issues following a positive, goal oriented program of achievement.

The issue of minority hiring is an especially significant topic in college football where only five of the 115 head coaches in Division I-A are black and there are no black head coaches in all of Division I-AA. Floyd Keith, Executive Director of the Black Coaches Association, was the last black head coach at the Division I-AA level. Keith left Rhode Island in 1999. Of the 25 coaching vacancies in the off-season, only one black head coach was hired. That’s less than 3.5% representation in a sport in which 50.5% of the players are black and more than 57% are minorities.

“I’m not sure everybody out there is committed to diversity or to exhausting all avenues for finding as many minority candidates as possible,” said Bob Minnix, President of the BCA’s Board of Directors.

In addition to the BCA Football Classic, the BCA sponsors two men’s preseason basketball tournaments: the BCA Basketball Classic and BCA Invitational. The BCA Football Classic began in 1997 and has quickly become one of the premier preseason football games. An average of over 74,000 fans have watched the BCA Football Classic, which has consisted of teams from the Big Ten, Big XII, Big East, ACC and WAC conferences.

This year will mark the fifth year of the BCA Basketball Classic, a preseason men’s basketball tournament. This year’s event will feature California, St. Joseph’s, Princeton and Eastern Washington and will be held at California’s Haas Pavilion on November 15-16. The inaugural BCA Invitational men’s basketball tournament will be hosted by N.C. State on November 14-16 and will feature Northwestern, Rutgers, East Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth, Farleigh Dickinson, San Jose State and Prairie View A&M.

“We are looking forward to next week’s game,” said BCA Executive Director Floyd Keith. “With a national television audience and two of the nation’s top football programs, the BCA Classic will provide immeasurable exposure to the BCA mission.”

For more information about the BCA Classic, please visit BCAClassic.com. For more information about the BCA Classic, please contact Phil Wendler at (609)921-1300 or pwendler@gazellegroup.com. The BCA Classic is produced by the Gazelle Group, Inc.