 
Texas Athletics ranks No. 8 nationally in coaching gender equity study
Aug. 28, 2009
YORK, Pa. -- The University of Texas Athletics Department ranks eighth nationally in the third annual The Glass Ceiling Report Card, a gender equity study that evaluated Division I-A colleges according to the number of female head coaches and assistant coaches for men's and women's teams during the 2006-07 academic/athletic year. The report card scored a total of 114 universities and was conducted by Charles Kennedy, Political Science senior instructor at Penn State York. Texas received an A- grade and was one of just nine schools to receive a grade of A- or higher. UT also was the top-rated school in the Big 12 Conference and ranked in the Top 10 nationally for the second straight survey. "The University of Texas committed to a varsity women's athletics program in 1973, one year after Title IX became law," said Chris Plonsky, UT Women's Athletics Director and Senior Associate AD of Men's and Women's Athletics External Services. "There is a long tradition here of having a diverse, eminently-qualified and talented staff -- not only in coaching positions, but in other executive and middle management positions as well. "We believe that our student-athletes, and particularly our women student-athletes, have benefitted from an environment where strong role models, including women as well as men and women of color, are prevalent." The Report Card scores marked the sum total of the colleges' scores on the four criteria in the study: percentage of women who are head coaches of men's teams, percentage of women who are head coaches of women's teams, percentage of women who are assistant coaches of men's teams, and percentage of women who are assistant coaches of women's teams. The 114 colleges included in the study were from the 11 major Division I-A conferences. The Report Card was based on criteria utilized by the Chronicle of Higher Education in its study on gender equity in 2008. All of the statistics were obtained from the Chronicle's study, according to data submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, as required by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act of 1994. The Glass Ceiling on the Playing Fields: The Third Annual Report Card -- Top 10 Schools |
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