Report: Minority head coaches underrepresented in Texas high school football

In Texas, African-American and Hispanic high school football coaches are underrepresented when compared to the schools they coach and the state as a whole, according to a new demographic study created by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.

The study examined the 253 teams that make up the University Interscholastic League’s Class 6A, the largest schools in Texas high school football, with enrollments of 2,190 and higher. Of those 253 coaches, 179 are white; 45 are black; 28 are Hispanic; and one is Pacific Islander.

In contrast, while more than 70 percent of the 6A coaches are white, just 26.4 percent of the students that attend those schools are white, compared to 50.6 percent Hispanic and 14.1 percent African-American, according to data Dave Campbell's Texas Football obtained from the Texas Education Agency.

In addition, of the 270 head coaches hired by Texas high school football programs in classes 6A all the way down to 2A dating back to the conclusion of the 2016 season, 196 of them (over 72 percent), are white.

“It’s something that we talk about a lot,” John Tyler High School head football coach Ricklan Holmes told the publication. “Not to take anything away from the other coaches, but when you look at the makeup of the schools that most coaches are in, it’s not the majority that they represent."

The study also revealed that minority coaches are underrepresented even in schools where the majority of students are non-white.

95 percent of majority-white schools have a white head football coach, while 47 percent of majority-black schools have a black head football coach. At majority-Hispanic schools, only 19 percent have a Hispanic football coach.

The story also indicated that the Texas High School Coaches Association is trying to address the issue.

“From our perspective here at the THSCA, we want to create some inclusion programs to help balance that moving forward,” said Joe Martin, who is the assistant executive director of the Texas High School Coaches Association. “That’s a priority moving forward. It’s two-fold — it’s young coaches, it’s minority coaches, and it’s especially young minority coaches."

This story was originally published February 20, 2018 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Report: Minority head coaches underrepresented in Texas high school football."