Black Coaches Association To Adopt ‘Diverse’ Name

Indianapolis
The Black Coaches Association is changing its name to show it’s inclusive of other minority groups. The name will be made official following the end of member voting July 1.

Officials say the change better reflects the group’s mission — advocating on behalf of minority coaches, sports administrators and athletes — and serves as an invitation to minorities who thought the organization was only for Blacks.

“We’re trying to keep more doors open. We’ve been fighting for all diverse groups of coaches but it kind of goes unnoticed,” says Eugene Marshall, the president of the association’s board.

The nearly 20-year-old organization, which boasts 3,200 members, will evolve into “Diverse Coaches and Administrators,” “Diverse Coaches and Administrators Association” or another name recommended by members in a write-in campaign.

Although the BCA board of directors had been contemplating the name change for two years, some members were caught by surprise, says Marshall, athletics director for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
“Only a small amount were disappointed. Most everybody else understood the whole world is changing. The Black Coaches Association is making that change with the world,” he says.

Association leaders hope to join forces with Hispanics and Asians to support the growth and development of ethnic minorities in professional, intercollegiate and high school sports. But, at least one current member said he felt abandoned.

“I’m a little bit discouraged,” Lamonte Massie, the head football coach at Edward Waters College, a historically Black college in Jacksonville, Fla., told the Miami Herald when the name change was announced. The announcement came at the association’s 19th annual convention in Miami earlier this month.

— Diverse staff