Jan. 11, 2007

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -There are only 17 minority athletic directors among the NCAA's 119 Division I-A schools, but that number is an all-time high, according to a study released Thursday.

"The overwhelming majority of the most powerful people in college sport is still white," said researcher Richard Lapchick, a University of Central Florida professor who examines diversity in sports.

As of Jan. 1, Lapchick counted 12 black and four Latino athletic directors, along with one American Indian. Last year, there were 13 minority ADs.

The report Thursday looked at the race and gender of conference commissioners, university presidents, athletic directors, football coaches and faculty athletics representatives for all 119 schools.

Lapchick determined that whites hold 91 percent of the 358 campus leadership positions, 48 of them women.

The report noted that Florida International became the first school in NCAA history with three Latinos concurrently serving as president, athletic director and football coach after the school hired coach Mario Cristobal in December.

The ranks of minority head coaches edged up with Cristobal and Randy Shannon's hiring at Miami, but there were still just seven overall - about 6 percent of the total.

In addition, all 11 Division I-A conference commissioners were white.

Besides FIU, minority ADs were employed at Army, Eastern Michigan, Georgia, Hawaii Manoa, UCLA, Central Florida, Buffalo, Rice, Wisconsin, New Mexico State, Ohio State, Southern California, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Tulane and Virginia.

The NCAA did not immediately respond to e-mails and a voice mail message left Thursday.