The 50th anniversary of Title IX has sparked celebration and reflection across college sports. For the Pac-12 Hotline, the moment in time offers an opportunity for prognostication, as well.
For all the benefits created by the groundbreaking civil rights legislation, which became the law of the land on June 23, 1972, the next chapter in the evolution of equity is vital, as well.
And it comes as a monumental shift unfolds across college sports:
Name, image and likeness compensation has changed recruiting and the allocation of resources.
The Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling on educational benefits could lead to athletes being declared employees.
The NCAA is rewriting its constitution to provide the Power Five with greater autonomy.
More men are coaching women鈥檚 sports, while the number of female athletic directors across Division I remains embarrassingly low.
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To address the current state and future direction of Title IX, the Hotline reached out to four leaders in college sports:
Washington athletic director Jen Cohen
Pac-12 deputy commissioner Teresa Gould
West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez
Women Leaders in College Sports chief executive Patti Phillips
The interviews were conducted separately and have been tweaked for clarity.
Title IX has received significant attention lately because of the 50th anniversary. Where is application of the law at the present time?
Gould: 鈥淚鈥檓 excited that there鈥檚 so much conversation around the industry. In my lifetime, Title IX is the single biggest game-changer, in and beyond intercollegiate athletics. It has been transformational. The experience I had in the 1970s and 80s is very different from the one girls are having now.鈥
Nevarez: 鈥淚鈥檓 on the NCAA transformation committee, and I keep thinking, 鈥楾hank goodness for Title IX, but we still have so much work to do.鈥 Gender equity is called out in the NCAA constitution, and without Title IX, folks wouldn鈥檛 be asking about equity. What happened at the 2021 Women鈥檚 Final Four shed light on the situation. Just because the NCAA doesn鈥檛 receive federal funds, it represents the ecosystem and should comply.鈥
Phillips: 鈥淭here has been progress, and that鈥檚 important to remember. Without Title IX, we wouldn鈥檛 be where we are. I wouldn鈥檛 have my job. I wouldn鈥檛 have had a career in coaching. I wouldn鈥檛 have gone to college on (a basketball) scholarship. There are thousands of those stories, and the opportunities Title IX has provided, the doors it has opened, are invaluable. I鈥檓 grateful for that, and we should celebrate that. But we aren鈥檛 done yet.鈥
What areas of college sports are ripe for additional progress?
Gould: 鈥淭he mindset around opportunity and investment still needs to be changed. Do we want leaders to comply with Title IX because they are legally required to, or do we want them to invest in Title IX because it鈥檚 the right thing to do? What鈥檚 missing is looking at women鈥檚 sports as a product. Whether it鈥檚 female student-athletes or the WNBA, we don鈥檛 want them to be seen as a charity but as a viable product that 鈥 if you build a strategy and make the investment 鈥 can become a successful business. It鈥檚 difficult to measure the potential because investment hasn鈥檛 been happening for very long. We haven鈥檛 invested the same way we have for the men鈥檚 sports. Think about the Women鈥檚 College World Series. What would that look like now if we had invested 30 or 40 years ago?鈥
Cohen: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 exciting is that women鈥檚 sports are more valuable to the consumer because of their growing popularity. If we keep providing more opportunity, they will develop more value and provide more revenue so that we can re-invest. There is so much upside. I look at my sons, who are 17 and 19, and all they have ever known is the amazing female athletes that have been through Washington. And my boys, because they have grown up in that environment and because they have attended or watched games, they see women athletes and women鈥檚 sports as valuable. That鈥檚 exciting. That鈥檚 something to be grateful for. And it鈥檚 something that must continue everywhere. Title IX is not a destination. It鈥檚 a work in progress.鈥
Phillips: 鈥淭here鈥檚 hope from women鈥檚 organizations that we can continue to expand and move forward. There is a lot of opportunity for equity, and we aren鈥檛 there. Only 23% of college athletic directors are female across all NCAA divisions. In Division I, it鈥檚 just 14%. And in the Power Five, only six out of 65 athletic directors are women. If the leadership is going to reflect the population it serves, that number should be 50%.鈥
On that issue specifically, why aren鈥檛 more women leading major college athletic departments?
Cohen: 鈥淲hat I鈥檓 hopeful for is that if we give women and girls the opportunities to compete and work in sports, that we鈥檒l develop a bigger pipeline. And if there鈥檚 a bigger pipeline, we鈥檙e more likely to see the leadership numbers grow.鈥
Gould: 鈥淚 get more calls for AD jobs than I did 20 years ago, but the numbers still aren鈥檛 great and the mindset still exists of, 鈥楬ow can she lead a football program when she never played football?鈥 It鈥檚 getting better, but there鈥檚 still so much work to be done in that space.鈥
Nevarez: 鈥淵ou hear all the time that you have to know football. It鈥檚 an unconscious bias, because plenty of male athletic directors never played football. I know women AD candidates who have been asked what the spread offense is during their interviews. But are they asking male candidates the same thing?鈥
Phillips: 鈥淲e have to keep exposing people to the benefits of women in leadership. We have to show the boards of trustees and the presidents and the people who are behind the curtains influencing the decisions. When there are times of great change, two things happen: People fall into old habits, and people avoid risks. NIL, Alston, the NCAA transformation 鈥 all those things create unrest and are unsettling. People turn to something that seems like a sure thing, and in some cases, that鈥檚 people who prescribe to the traditional athletic director experience and background. But that鈥檚 false thinking. We are here today because of how it鈥檚 been done in the past. Now is the time to think differently, hire different leaders and explore a new way of doing things in college sports.鈥
Are there other areas to enhance equity?
Nevarez: 鈥淎 lot more work must be done with leadership on the campuses and at the Power Five commissioner level. And with officiating, too. College sports is behind in that regard. Men and women officiate women鈥檚 sports, but only men officiate men鈥檚 sports. The NFL and NBA have already integrated women into their officiating crews.鈥
Gould: 鈥淭he numbers of women in coaching are trending in the wrong direction. Why? I think it鈥檚 the lifestyle, and depending on your home situation, it鈥檚 not the easiest thing to juggle. Not every athletic department is well equipped to know how to support women鈥檚 basketball coaches, for example. Not every school program is chartering. Or bringing nannies. The other piece is that more men are migrating to women鈥檚 sports because they鈥檙e seeing big contracts for coaching jobs with women鈥檚 basketball, soccer, volleyball and softball. A large percentage of coaches in those high-profile sports are men. You look at the demographics of athletic directors making the coaching hires, and you see that there are more qualified men available, and I think that鈥檚 part of why we are where we are.鈥
What鈥檚 the biggest obstacle for Title IX in the future?
Phillips: 鈥淪ystemic and longstanding bias towards women in our society. We have to get past our biases, particularly for women playing and leading in sport. These biases impact the enforcement and overall impact of Title IX on many levels 鈥 from the revenue models to media rights, and access to opportunities for girls and women to play sports.鈥
Nevarez: 鈥淭he biggest challenge is the political environment. Title IX has stood the test of time, but everything is more politicized. What鈥檚 the NCAA going to look like going forward? We need it 鈥 the NCAA 鈥 to understand the value of all the sports.鈥
Cohen: 鈥淚 started working in college athletics in Division III, and I couldn鈥檛 get anyone in Division I to return my calls. I was 27 and saw an ad in the NCAA 蜜柚直播 for an endowed internship at Texas Tech. I left my job at Puget Sound and moved to Lubbock for the internship. I was the first recipient. It was one of the best years of my life. I met a ton of people, I got a lot of meaningful experience, and that access changed my life. I was hired by Washington to work in development the next year. And that鈥檚 Title IX at its finest 鈥 my internship would never have happened without Title IX. The great news is that people are more committed than ever to giving opportunities to everyone. The question for all of college sports is, how do we generate the revenue to fund the opportunities? What is the structure of intercollegiate athletics in the future that will allow investment and opportunities for all? That鈥檚 where the commitment must stay true.鈥
