AP reveals lack of coaching diversity in women’s college hoops

By Teresa M. Walker

Sports writer Teresa Walker took a deep look into a diversity issue in women’s college basketball that has been mostly overlooked — of the 65 Power Five head coaches, only 13 are Black women.

Walker, who is helping cover the tournament remotely, stepped away from the action on the court to highlight the low number of Black women in the top coaching jobs. She interviewed coaches and administrators to get answers as to why so few and what needs to happen for that to change. And she led off the story with a telling anecdote — when Dawn Staley and Joni Taylor met up in the Southeastern Conference Championship, it was the first time in 41 years that teams led by Black women had faced off in a tournament championship. After the story was published, a Vanderbilt official summed up the responses to the article in a note to Teresa saying, “Crushed it!”

“You can’t dream what you can’t see.” There are only 13 Black women head coaches in Power Five conferences this season where Dawn Staley and Joni Taylor made history as the first to meet in a Power Five tournament championship.

by @TeresaMWalker: https://t.co/iqp9AQI80T pic.twitter.com/lwxfhnmagb

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) March 25, 2021