July 16, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - In a national study to analyze how well major colleges and conferences are doing in providing coaching opportunities for women, the University of Central Florida finished No. 1 in the country among 113 Division I-A colleges polled.
The inaugural study, entitled the Glass Ceiling Report Card, performed by Charles L. Kennedy a senior instructor of political science at Penn State-York, reported on coaching staffs of 113 colleges among 11 Division I-A conferences during the 2004-05 academic sports year. UCF received an A+ on the report card, finishing atop the nation with a 187.62 rating. The Knights' score was well above second place Ball State, who finished with a 162.61.
The report card consisted of four categories: the percentage of women who are head coaches of men's teams, assistant coaches of men's teams, head coaches of women's teams and assistant coaches of women's teams. The total of four categories is the institution's score. All the statistics were derived from the Chronicle of Higher Education's study on "gender equity" in 2006, according to data submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, as required by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act of 1994.
For the different conferences, the Big Ten had the greatest percentage of women head coaches of women's teams with 56.82% and Conference USA had the greatest percentage of assistant coaches of women's teams with 62.0%. Interestingly, Conference USA had five schools receive an A grade: UCF, Memphis, UAB, Tulsa and Southern Miss.
The A Grades: 1. UCF (187.62); 2. Ball State (162.61); 3. Northwestern (150.00); 4. Memphis (148.21); 5. Vanderbilt (147.87); 6. Idaho (147.60); 7. Buffalo (145.25); 8. UAB (140.00); 9. Miami FL (138.89); 10. FIU (138.38); 11. Connecticut (137.24); 12. Tulsa (136.79); 13. Clemson (135.72); 14. Southern Miss (135.02); 15. California (135.00).