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In 30 Years, Little Progress for U.S. Sports Leagues on Leadership Diversity

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Chicago Sky head coach James Wade, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, and Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra.Getty Images, Associated Press, The New York Times

Picture the North American major sports leagues in the 1990s: The players were mostly people of color, but the coaches, managers and team owners were almost all white.

A snapshot today looks mostly the same.

Racial disparity in major sports leagues

Players of color Head coaches of color

N.B.A.

2020

W.N.B.A.

2019

N.F.L.

2020

M.L.S.

2020

M.L.B.

2020

74%

83%

83%

60%

40%

13%

25%

30%

41%

20%

Players of color Head coaches of color

N.B.A.

2020

W.N.B.A.

2019

N.F.L.

2020

M.L.S.

2020

M.L.B.

2020

74%

83%

83%

40%

60%

13%

25%

30%

20%

41%

Players of color Head coaches of color

N.B.A.

2020

W.N.B.A.

2019

N.F.L.

2020

74%

83%

83%

13%

25%

30%

M.L.S.

2020

M.L.B.

2020

40%

60%

20%

41%

Players of color Head coaches of color

W.N.B.A.

2019

N.B.A.

2020

N.F.L.

2020

74%

83%

83%

13%

25%

30%

M.L.S.

2020

M.L.B.

2020

60%

40%

41%

20%

Players of color Head coaches of color

W.N.B.A.

2019

N.F.L.

2020

74%

83%

13%

25%

M.L.B.

2020

N.B.A.

2020

83%

40%

30%

20%

M.L.S.

2020

60%

41%

Note: Managers are shown instead of head coaches for M.L.B. The most recent available data is used for each league. The data is self-reported and may not include all league members.·Source: Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport

Despite a handful of initiatives meant to increase diversity in the leadership of sports organizations, coaching and management roles have mostly gone to white candidates in the past 30 years, according to a New York Times analysis of data from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports.

The data calls into question whether the policies work effectively. It also shows a gap between what sports organizations say publicly about race and how they operate internally. Even as organizations have shown little progress in diversifying their leaders, many have made splashy declarations co-opting the causes of their athletes, namely pledging to combat systemic racial injustices in the United States.

The data used in this analysis, which comes from five leagues, is self-reported by teams and league offices. The information is voluntary, based on how individuals identify themselves, and in some instances does not account for people who may identify with two or more races. As a result, some of the data is incomplete and may be imprecise. The percentages used in this analysis have been adjusted to account for a small number of people who did not respond to the surveys in each league.

The analysis includes data from the N.F.L., the W.N.B.A., Major League Soccer, the N.B.A., and Major League Baseball. The N.H.L. is not included because it only recently started working with the institute, based at the University of Central Florida.

National Football League

In 1921, the year after the National Football League was formed under a different name, Jim Thorpe and Frederick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard became its first coaches of color, said Joe Horrigan, former executive director of professional football’s hall of fame. Pollard was the only Black head coach in the N.F.L. until 1989, when Art Shell took over the Los Angeles Raiders.

Tony Dungy and Herm Edwards were the only Black head coaches in the 32-team league in 2002, when a study found that Black coaches were less likely to be hired and more likely to be fired than their white counterparts, even when they won a higher percentage of games (Dungy himself was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a playoff appearance in the 2001 season and was hired by the Indianapolis Colts eight days later).

Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts was one of only two Black head coaches in the N.F.L. in 2002.Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Under pressure from players and advocates, the N.F.L. adopted the Rooney Rule in 2003. The rule, named for the late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney and which has since been expanded, required teams to interview at least one nonwhite candidate for head coaching positions. Businesses within sports and beyond have looked to the rule as an example as they developed their own hiring practices.

But the rule does not require teams to hire nonwhite candidates once they conduct those interviews, and their coaches, managers and top executives have remained mostly white. At any given time, the league has had as many as eight nonwhite head coaches (a number it first reached in 2011) but that has since dipped, according to the data.

Percentage of each racial group in the N.F.L.

The N.F.L. implemented the Rooney Rule in 2003. But very little has changed as a result of the policy.

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

Rooney

Rule

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

100%

General managers

100%

C.E.O.s

Gap in reporting

Jason Wright

First Black Team President, 2020

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

Rooney Rule

1995

2000

2010

2015

2020

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

100%

General managers

100%

C.E.O.s

Gap in reporting

Jason Wright

First Black Team President

2020

Race

White Black Latino Asian Other

Assistant

coaches

Head

coaches

General

managers

C.E.O.s

Players

2020

2015

2010

Rooney Rule

2000

Jason Wright

First Black

Team President

2020

100%

Note: The category for general managers includes personnel in similar management positions for time periods before the term “general manager” was widely used. The data is self-reported and may not include all league members.·Source: Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport

In 2020, the N.F.L. started the season with four coaches who identified as nonwhite (three as Black, one as Latino), meaning that 13 percent of head coaches were people of color. Almost 74 percent of the players who disclosed their race in the survey were people of color.

Among the five leagues that submit data to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the N.F.L. had the biggest discrepancy between the percentage of head coaches and the percentage of players who were nonwhite: a difference of 61 percentage points.

A 2019 study by the Arizona State University Global Sport Education and Research Lab showed that Black coaches were hired at older ages, had much more playing experience and did not get second chances at the same rate as white coaches. “When African American head coaches have been fired in the N.F.L., it has been more difficult for them, as compared to white and Latino American head coaches, to obtain another head coaching position at the same level,” the study said.

When that study was published, 12 of the N.F.L.’s franchises had only hired white head coaches since the N.F.L. merged with the American Football League in 1970. Ron Rivera was hired by the Washington Football Team on Dec. 31, 2019, dropping that total to 11. If the Atlanta Falcons hire interim head coach Raheem Morris and the Houston Texans — a much newer franchise than Washington or Atlanta — do the same with Romeo Crennel, that total will be nine.

Washington Football Team Coach Ron Rivera during an N.F.L. game against the San Francisco 49ers earlier this month.Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

The N.F.L. updated its rules this year to apply its interview standards to more front-office positions and to require teams to interview at least two nonwhite external candidates, up from one, for head coaching vacancies. It also required at least one nonwhite candidate to be interviewed for coordinator positions and senior football operations roles, to boost diversity beyond the playing field.

“We’re focusing on getting more Black candidates in coaching — especially for quarterbacks and coaches on the offensive side of the ball, since those positions tend to have a higher chance of ascending to the head coach level,” said Samantha Rapoport, the N.F.L.’s senior director of diversity and inclusion.

This August, 100 years after the N.F.L.’s inception, Jason Wright became the first Black team president when he was hired by the Washington Football Team amid a broader overhaul within the organization. Two N.F.L. team presidents are Asian, according to the data: Paraag Marathe of the San Francisco 49ers and Kim Pegula of the Buffalo Bills. The Jets’ Hymie Elhai identified as Hispanic. The rest are white.

Women’s National Basketball Association

The W.N.B.A. had almost as high of a disparity between the percentage of players and head coaches who were nonwhite as the N.F.L in 2019, the most recent year for which data was available. Three out of 12 head coaches were people of color compared with 119 out of 144 players: a difference of 58 percentage points. All three coaches of color were Black.

Compared with the racial makeup of the U.S. population, however, the W.N.B.A. has the best marks among the North American professional leagues in the analysis for Black coaches. Twenty-five percent of the league’s head coaches were Black and 13.4 percent of the U.S. population was Black, according to the United States Census Bureau. The only other league with representation that exceeded 13.4 percent was the N.B.A., for which 23 percent of head coaches identified as Black. The N.F.L. trails at just above 9 percent.

Chicago Sky head coach James Wade walks the sideline during a W.N.B.A. game against the Phoenix Mercury.Octavio Jones for The New York Times

Richard Lapchick, the director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, praised the W.N.B.A. for its diversity compared with the U.S. population. He determines the grades for his annual Racial and Gender Report Cards based on how closely the racial makeup of each league compares with society at large.

“The W.N.B.A. is the best period — consistently when you look at any category,” Lapchick said.

Percentage of each racial group in the W.N.B.A.

The W.N.B.A. is often described as one of the most diverse sports leagues. But the racial imbalance between players and management has changed little over the past decade.

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

2000

2005

2010

2015

2019

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

General managers

Sheryl Swoopes

First Player, 1996

Cheryl Miller

first Black coach

to lead team

to finals, 1998

Majority owners

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

2000

2005

2010

2015

2019

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

General managers

Cheryl Miller

first Black

coach to

lead team

to finals

1998

Sheryl

Swoopes

First Player

1996

Majority owners

Race

White Black Latino Asian Other

Assistant

coaches

Head

coaches

General

managers

Majority

owners

Players

2019

2015

2010

2005

Cheryl Miller

first Black

coach to

lead team

to finals

1998

100%

Note: The data is self-reported and may not include all league members.·Source: Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport

But the W.N.B.A. lacks representation across all races. Only two individuals who did not identify as white or Black have held a role of assistant coach, head coach or general manager since 1998, the league’s second season. An assistant coach hired in 1998 identified as Asian; another assistant coach in 2019 identified as “other.” (“Other” includes individuals who identified as Native American, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian or Alaskan and, in later years, biracial, depending on the league.)

The Dallas Wings hired Vickie Johnson in early December, making her the league’s only female coach of color.

Neither the W.N.B.A. nor the N.B.A. has a guideline like the N.F.L.’s Rooney Rule.

“We need to work with the teams more when there are openings, like a general manager or a head coach, that they're looking at all candidates, including diverse candidates, in a very constructive way,” W.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said before the 2020 finals.

Major League Soccer

Despite Lapchick’s praise for the W.N.B.A., Major League Soccer actually had a higher percentage of head coaches who are people of color than any of the five leagues we assessed: 41 percent in 2020. It also had the smallest disparity between head coaches and players of color. And M.L.S. players make up one of the most racially diverse sets of athletes.

M.L.S. matches census data for the number of white coaches. Just over 59 percent of coaches identified as white while 60 percent of the U.S. identified as white. Other leagues had a much higher complement of white coaches.

This is largely because a high percentage of M.L.S. head coaches identified as Hispanic or Latino in 2020 — 29.6 percent, compared with 18.5 percent of the U.S. population who identified as Hispanic or Latino.

Few players are Black and even fewer managers identify as Black. Data shows that no Black coaches were hired between 2013 and 2018; Robin Fraser changed that in 2019 when the Colorado Rapids hired him.

Percentage of each racial group in M.L.S.

Although all people of color in M.L.S. are underrepresented at leadership levels, the discrepancy is most extreme for Black players.

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

Coaching Diversity Initiative

2000

2005

2015

2020

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

100%

General managers

100%

Majority owners

Robin Fraser

Black M.L.S. coach

2019

Ali Curtis

first Black

sporting director, 2015

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

Coaching Diversity Initiative

2000

2005

2015

2020

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

100%

General managers

100%

Majority owners

Robin Fraser

Black M.L.S. coach

2019

Ali Curtis

first Black sporting director

2015

Race

White Black Latino Asian Other

Assistant

coaches

Head

coaches

General

managers

Majority

owners

Players

2020

2015

Coaching Diversity Initiative

2005

100%

Ali Curtis

first Black

sporting director

2015

Note: The data is self-reported and may not include all league members.·Source: Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport

M.L.S. has had a Coaching Diversity Initiative since 2007, which is similar to the Rooney Rule. This October, the league announced a commitment to increase Black representation in management. In consultation with its new diversity committee, the league intends to create “policies and an educational ecosystem to increase Black representation in executive and sporting positions at the league office, the member clubs and other North American soccer organizations,” the announcement said.

Toronto FC soccer team general manager Ali Curtis spoke to the media during an end of season availability in Toronto in 2019.Chris Young/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press

One leader pushing for more executives of color is Ali Curtis, Toronto F.C.’s general manager, who became the league’s first Black sporting director at the end of 2014 for the New York Red Bulls. (Sporting directors are equivalent to general managers in this data.)

Curtis acknowledged that inclusion in M.L.S. has improved since he played in the early 2000s, but said there is more to be done.

“I'm incredibly fortunate that I am where I am,” he said in a phone interview. “I know that I have to open that door for other people. And I have to work as hard as possible and be as successful as possible so that there's more than just me out there.”

National Basketball Association

Just as athletes in the W.N.B.A. and other sports leagues have for years, N.B.A. players have championed social justice initiatives in several highly visible forms recently. This summer, the Milwaukee Bucks sparked a walkout across American pro sports this summer by refusing to play after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wis.

While the N.B.A. has co-opted its players’ protests, it has not adopted a hiring rule like the N.F.L. or M.L.S. As of July, about 30 percent of N.B.A. head coaches from the 2020 season identified as people of color, while 83 percent of players identified as nonwhite.

The Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic boycotted their playoff game in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in August.Pool photo by Ashley Landis

The N.B.A. has a training program called the Coaches Equality Initiative, but it does not specify guidelines for racial inclusion. It also has a Global Inclusion Council, which recommends inclusion strategies for the N.B.A. and W.N.B.A., offering guidance on policies, benchmarks and “serves as a catalyst for diversity and inclusion efforts worldwide.” The league updated the role of its diversity and inclusion officer, Oris Stuart, to cover “people and inclusion” in August, putting him in charge of both human resources and diversity and inclusion.

“We’ve looked at what might be an equivalent to a Rooney-type rule in the N.B.A. and I’m not sure it makes sense,” Commissioner Adam Silver said in a media address before the 2020 N.B.A. Finals.

Percentage of each racial group in the N.B.A.

The N.B.A. is celebrated as one of the most diverse men’s leagues. Yet Asian and Latino head coaches entered the arena relatively late compared to players.

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

100%

General managers

100%

Majority owners

James Borrego

first Latino full-time

head coach, 2018

Erik Spoelstra

first Asian

head coach, 2008

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

100%

Players

100%

Assistant coaches

100%

Head coaches

100%

General managers

100%

Majority owners

James Borrego

first Latino full-time

head coach

2018

Erik Spoelstra

first Asian

head coach

2008

Race

White Black Latino Asian Other

Assistant

coaches

Head

coaches

General

managers

Majority

owners

Players

2020

2015

2010

2005

2000

Erik Spoelstra

first Asian

head coach

2008

100%

Note: The data is self-reported and may not include all league members.·Source: Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport

Conversation about the N.B.A.’s hiring policies reignited when Steve Nash, in his own words, did “skip the line” when he became head coach of the Brooklyn Nets without any coaching experience. Nash, who is white, is a Hall of Famer recognized as one of the greatest point guards in professional basketball history. Sean Marks, the team’s general manager, said he hired Nash for his name, record and ties to players.

Choosing him over the team’s interim coach, Jacque Vaughn, who is Black and had experience as a head coach, renewed questions about the league’s lack of structure for interviewing nonwhite candidates, a standard practice in several other leagues. A lot of league reshuffling of head coaches has occurred since then: Now there are nine head coaches of color.

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, center left, draws up a play during a time out late in the second half of an N.B.A. Eastern Conference Finals basketball game against the Boston Celtics last season.Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

The N.B.A. has seven Black head coaches, one Latino head coach (James Borrego of the Charlotte Hornets) and one Asian head coach (Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat). Five general managers were Black and two identified as “other” through July 2020.

Spoelstra, who is of Filipino descent, became the first Asian American coach in one of the “Big Four” North American leagues in 2008. In fact, a lack of Asian players in most major pro sports led to a disproportionate number of leaders who identify as Asian compared with athletes, especially in the N.F.L, M.L.S. and N.B.A.

Still, Asian Americans were underrepresented in all five leagues compared with the population of the United States, according to census data.

Major League Baseball

Much like other leagues, M.L.B. has had players who identified as African American, Latino and Native American since its founding years, according to the league’s historian, John Thorn. Despite some early firsts, similar opportunities were not afforded to upper level staff until much later: Frank Robinson became baseball’s first Black manager in 1975, nearly 30 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line after playing in the Negro leagues. (In baseball, head coaches are called “managers” and assistant coaches are called “coaches.”)

“I don’t think I was hired because I was Black,” Frank Robinson, who died in 2019, told The New York Times when he was hired. “I hope not. I think I’ve been hired because of my ability.”

Cleveland Indians manager Frank Robinson in 1975.Associated Press

Baseball has the Selig Rule, which requires teams to consider nonwhite candidates when hiring for several specific management roles. The guidance proposed in 1999 by Bud Selig, a former league commissioner, hasn’t changed since its inception. The number of general managers, managers and coaches of color hasn’t changed much either.

It has by far the smallest percentage of players (40 percent) and the second smallest percentage of managers (20 percent) who identified as people of color as of January 2020, making baseball the whitest of the sports surveyed. Since the data was compiled, the White Sox’s Rick Renteria, who is Latino, was replaced by Tony La Russa and the Red Sox’s Ron Roenicke was replaced by Alex Cora, who is Puerto Rican.

Percentage of each racial group in M.L.B.

M.L.B. was the only league where there were more coaches of color than players of color in the most recent year.

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

Selig Rule

1995

1991

2005

2010

2015

2020

100%

Players

100%

Coaches

100%

Managers

100%

General managers

Majority owners

Arte Moreno

first latino

majority owner, 2003

Hiroshi Yamauchi

first Asian

majority owner, 1992

Race White Black Latino Asian Other

1991

1995

2005

2010

2015

2020

Selig Rule

100%

Players

100%

Coaches

100%

Managers

100%

General managers

Majority owners

Hiroshi Yamauchi

first Asian

majority owner

1992

Arte Moreno

first latino

majority owner

2003

Race

White Black Latino Asian Other

Coaches

Managers

General

managers

Majority

owners

Players

2020

2015

2010

2005

Selig

Rule

2000

Arte Moreno

first latino

majority owner

2003

100%

Note: The data is self-reported and may not include all league members.·Source: Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport

M.L.B. was the only league that had a higher percentage of coaches of color (44 percent) than players of color in 2020. A growing number of Latino coaches in assistant roles bolster that difference: Thirty-four percent of coaches identified as Hispanic or Latino in 2020. All other races remained underrepresented.

And baseball has the least racially diverse set of majority owners. Only one person of color was the majority owner of an M.L.B. team this year: Arte Moreno, who acquired the Los Angeles Angels in 2003. Moreno is the first Latino to own a majority stake of a franchise in any major league sport in the United States. Hiroshi Yamauchi became the first Asian person to own a major U.S. team when he bought the Seattle Mariners in 1992.

Miami Marlins general manager Kim Ng.Joseph Guzy/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

M.L.B. had another “first” this fall when Kim Ng became the first female general manager in any of the North American major men’s sports leagues. She was hired by the Miami Marlins in November. Ng, who is Asian American, joins Kenny Williams (White Sox), who is Black, Farhan Zaidi (Giants), who is of Pakistani descent, and Al Avila (Tigers), who is Cuban, in the ranks of baseball executives of color overseeing similar operations, according to the data.

“When I got into this business, it seemed unlikely a woman would lead a major league team, but I am dogged in the pursuit of my goals,” Ng said in the Marlins’ announcement.

Photo illustration credits: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images (James Borrego); Chris Young / The Canadian Press, via Associated Press (Ali Curtis); Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images (Robin Fraser); Scott Troyanos / Associated Press (Cheryl Miller); Lucy Nicholson / Reuters (Arte Moreno); Darryl Webb / Associated Press (Erik Spoelstra); Elaine Thompson / Associated Press (Sheryl Swoopes); N.F.L. via Getty Images (Jason Wright); Nintendo, via European Pressphoto Agency (Hiroshi Yamauchi)