Partner Alice Jump Quoted by Law360 on Diversity among College Basketball Coaching Staff

On March 30, Partner Alice Jump was quoted by Law360 in their article entitled, “How College Basketball Can Diversify Its Coaching Ranks.” The article discusses that in NCAA history, no woman has ever coached a Division I men’s basketball team.  Male coaches, on the other hand, have the opportunity for not only the most high-profile coaching jobs, but they also have the option of taking leadership roles on teams of either sex.

Alice states, “The ratio of women to men in the college basketball coaching ranks may look bad, but it’s not necessarily illegal. The fact that men coach women but few women coach men is “damning,” but doesn’t mean that anyone’s flouting the law. How do you prove that you as a woman are qualified to coach a men’s team – and in my view is of course you are; coaching is sort of a genderless skill, I think – and are they making a decision not to hire you based on your gender?”

However, in 2019, Notre Dame women’s coach, Muffet McGraw, announced that she would not hire another man to work on the coaching staff. In response to this, Alice continues, “That’s an outright statement that, ‘I am not going to hire you because of your gender,’ and that sort of gets very close to the legal line.”

The article continues to discuss how the NCAA can adopt principles from the Rooney Rule, for example, and practice more inclusivity and diversity in hiring coaching staff not only in gender but race as well.

To learn more, read the full article on Law360 here.